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Increased post-operative haemorrhage seen in adult coblation tonsillectomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2006

A. P. Noon
Affiliation:
Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, Royal Bolton Hospital, Bolton, UK.
S. Hargreaves
Affiliation:
Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, Royal Bolton Hospital, Bolton, UK.

Abstract

Coblation is a new soft tissue surgical technique that is being used for tonsillectomy. Published results show a significant decrease in the amount of post-operative pain experienced y patients undergoing coblation tonsillectomy. There has been no published work to date on the incidence of post-operative haemorrhage. From August 2001 to November 2002 one surgeon performed 36 coblation tonsillectomies on adults. On another list he performed 29 by his standard method of dissection and bipolar coagulation. Retrospective analysis found a significant increase in the secondary haemorrhage rate in adult patients undergoing coblation tonsillectomy (22.2 vs. 3.4 per cent). At our department coblation tonsillectomy has been abandoned until further work into its safety has been published.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Royal Society of Medicine Press Limited 2003

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