UK NEWS
END OF TONSIL OPS AS SURGEONS ADMIT THEY DON'T WORK
Taking tonsils out doesn't reduce significantly sore throats, claims a top doctor
By Victoria Fletcher
A SIMPLE operation to cure sore throats may not be as effective as was previously thought.
Although having tonsils out was once a ritual for millions of British children there has been a move away from operating on the under-16s.
Studies have shown that surgery does not significantly reduce the number of sore throats children go on to suffer – and many are now treated with antibiotics instead.
The same may be true for adults who suffer with chronic bouts of tonsillitis.
A doctor has claimed the benefits of surgery may not outweigh the risks and adult patients should also think twice before going under the knife.
Writing in this week’s British Medical Journal, Professor Paul Little said that recent studies supporting tonsillectomy had been misunderstood.
Until there was more research into the long-term health of people who turned down an operation, it remains unclear whether treating the condition with surgery is the best way forward.
Mr Little, professor of primary care research at the University of Southampton, wrote that the operation can often cause more distress than patients realised.
According to his calculations, patients who had suffered four bouts of tonsillitis in the last year would have only two-and-a-half days of a sore throat in the next six months if they didn’t have the surgery. Although patients who did have a tonsillectomy would have only half a day of sore throats in the next six months, they would also have to endure 13 days of severe pain following the operation.
The small but real risks of life-threatening complications after surgery should also be explained, he says, as mortality rates can range from one in 16,000 to one in 35,000.
He adds: “Any benefits of the operation must be balanced against potential disadvantages.
“The major disadvantage documented in the trial is the 13 days of sore throats after tonsillectomy which can be severe in many patients.”
Other disadvantages include the risks associated with an anaesthetic, dehydration, dental injuries, burns and soft tissue injuries and a risk of life-threatening complications such as major haemorrhage.
About 12 per cent of Britons have recurrent tonsillitis at some stage in their life.
This means they have more than three episodes of pharyngitis in six months, or four in a year.
A study from Finland suggested that in adults, a tonsillectomy could be the best way to cure recurrent throat infections. But the same was not true of children. Last year, the Chief Medical Officer urged health trusts to carry out fewer tonsillectomies on children because other treatments such as antibiotics work as well on this age group.
The move, which would lower the number of operations on children in low-income areas, would save £6million a year, he said.
However, Professor Little claims that even adults shouldn’t rush for surgery to cure sore throats.
Tonsillectomies hit the headlines in January when the Association of Directors of Public Health said that patients should pay for the operation on the NHS because it was “unnecessary.”
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AND AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.
05.05.07, 9:14pm
They admit this as the NHS is bankrupt, so is this the end of fifty years of incompetence or the start of creative diagnosing to match the NHS accounting system!
• Posted by: The_Way_I_See_It • Report Comment
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