Incidence, Prevention and Management of Post Tonsillectomy Hemorrhage

Background: Tonsillectomy is one of the most frequently performed operations in otolaryngology, especially in children. Basically, bleeding within 24 h has been classified as primary bleeding whereas bleeding occurring from the next day after surgery has been classified as secondary bleeding. Aim of the Work: Was to review the possibility of decreasing the incidence of post- tonsillectomy hemorrhage along with the associated complications. Methods: This is a prospective study enrolling one thousand and two hundred patients undergoing tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy in Al- Azhar University Hospitals (El-Hussien – Sayed Jalal - AL Zahraa) from April 2018 till December 2018. We restricted the study to full time participants and resident staff so that complete records would be available. Results: The mean age of patients was 13.53 years, 47.62% of patients were male while 52.38% of patients were female. Primary bleeding occurred in 16 cases while secondary bleeding occurred in 32 cases. There are significant differences among studied groups as regard to control methods of post-tonsillectomy bleeding which could be conservative or operative. Conclusion: We concluded that patients with post-tonsillectomy bleeding should return for clinical evaluation as they may need conservative management or possible operation interference either for ligation or cautery of bloody tonsil, that trigger a need for external carotid artery ligation.