Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
Malays J Med Sci, 2007 Jan;14(1):53-5.
PMID: 22593652

Abstract

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 fonsillectomy specimens. In this paper, a retrospective evaluation of 480 specimens from 241 patient who had 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 to be malignant. The result of this study indicates that routine histopathological examination of tonsillectomy specimens are unnecessary and results only in added cost and a loss of man hours.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.