Post Tonsillectomy Hemorrhage Incidence, a Comparison between Dissection and Bipolar Diathermy Techniques

Objective: To compare the incidence of post operative hemorrhage after tonsillectomy with dissection and with bipolar diathermy. Patients and Methods: This comparative study was carried out in Department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery, Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad from June 2004 to July 2008. It included 300 patients with chronic tonsillitis in the absence of bleeding diathesis or nasal pathology. They were divided into 2 groups of 150 patients each and were labeled as dissection group and coagulation group. They were followed in OPD on 7th and 14th post operative days and any bleeding per mouth at home was inquired. The data was analyzed using SPSS V 13. Results: A total 8 patients (2.6%) developed hemorrhage, all were secondary, and 3 (2%) were from dissection group and 5 (3%) from coagulation group (p=NS). Conclusions: Bipolar diathermy can be safely adopted for tonsillectomy because of no significant difference from post tonsillectomy hemorrhage with dissection technique.