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Interval tonsillectomy: 27 cases of peritonsillar abscesses managed in medical college hospital

Sudhir M Naik, Ravishankara S, Mohan Appaji, Goutham MK, N Pinky Devi, Sarika S Naik

Background/objectives: Peritonsillar abscess (quinsy) is the most common deep infection of the head and neck. The surgical treatment whether abscess tonsillectomy or interval tonsillectomy should be done is a subject of controversy which still remains unresolved.

Setting: Department of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery, KVG Medical College, Sullia.

Materials and methods: This is a comparative case series analysis study done in our department during the study period of 54 months from Jan 2007 to June 2011. 27 patients with clinical features of peritonsillar abscess who underwent medical line of treatment with incision and drainage and later interval tonsillectomy were included in the study. .

Results: The mean age was 30.4 years, mean hospital stay during incision and drainage was 3.51 days. The patient turned up for surgery within a mean duration of 9.4 months. The mean blood loss during the procedure was 100.5 ml and the mean VAS scores after interval tonsillectomy were 4.78. Mild to moderate difficulty were seen during the dissection of the abscess scarred tonsillar bed. .

Conclusion: Interval tonsillectomy is the standard treatment for managing peritonsillar abscess in many institutions. We recommend interval method of tonsillectomy done after a minimum of 6 weeks after incision and drainage of the peritonsillar abscess.