The routine histopathological examination of tonsillectomy specimens at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia - retrospective study and its implication

Tonsillectomy is performed for several indications, the two commonest in practice are infective ( chronic tonsillitis ) and obstructive symptoms such as sleep apnea. The objective of this study is to determine the necessity of routinely performed histopathological examination of specimens post-tonsillectomy. In this paper, a retrospective evaluation of 480 specimens from 241 patient who has undergone tonsillectomies in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia between January 2004 and October 2005 was done. It was found that 462 ( 96.25 % ) were reactive lymphoid hyperplasia and 18 ( 3.75 % ) were follicular hyperplasia. None of them were found malignant. The result of this study indicate that routine histopathological examination of tonsillectomy specimens are unnecessary and results only in added cost and a loss of man hours.