Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2013 Dec;56(12):773-777. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2013.56.12.773.

Comparison of Tonsillectomy by Conventional Dissection, Electrocautery, Laser, and Coblation

• Kim NG
• Oh HM
• Kim JY
• Kim DW
• Kim WH
• Choi DJ

• KMID: 1798115
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2013.56.12.773

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Tonsillectomy remains to be an ordinary operative process in otorhinolaryngology. The aim of this study is to evaluate four current tonsillectomy techniques, conventional dissection, electrocautery tonsillectomy, laser tonsillectomy, coblation tonsillectomy, comparing operation time, postoperative pain, postoperative otalgia and postoperative hemorrhage.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
From March 2012 to December 2012, a total of 61 patients between the ages of 10 years and 58 years scheduled for tonsillectomy were randomly assigned to conventional dissection, electrocautery, laser, coblation groups. All tonsillectomies were performed under general anesthesia.
RESULTS
Coblation tonsillectomy technique produced the shortest total surgical time, averaging 19.1 minutes. Electrocautery was the most painful method and postoperative pain was less in laser and coblation, but there was no statistically significant difference between the two. The incidence of primary and secondary hemorrhage was statistically insignificant between the surgical methods.
CONCLUSION
This study found that coblation tonsillectomy led to statistically shorter surgical time. However, the four techniques showed no statistically significant difference in the postoperative pain, postoperative otalgia and hemorrhage. Coblation tonsillectomy and laser tonsillectomy are found to be both useful in patients who are sensitive to postoperative pain.

Keyword

Coblation; Electrocautery; Laser; Tonsillectomy

MeSH Terms

Anesthesia, General
Earache
Electrocoagulation*
Hemorrhage
Humans
Incidence
Methods
Operative Time
Otolaryngology
Pain, Postoperative
Postoperative Hemorrhage
Tonsillectomy*