A Case Treated with Selective Embolization for Hemorrhage during Tonsillectomy

Though tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures in otorhinolaryngology generally for benign diseases and mainly for young people, uncontrollable perioperative bleeding associated with tonsillectomy is a rare but potentially life-threatening event. We report herein on a case of a 19-year-old female with uncontrollable hemorrhage during a tonsillectomy, which was controlled through selective embolization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on endovascular treatment in the management of tonsillectomy-associated intraoperative uncontrollable hemorrhage rather than postoperative bleeding. Selective embolization for perioperative bleeding during a tonsillectomy is considered as an efficient and important therapeutic option in the definitive treatment of this life-threatening occurrence. We also reviewed patients who underwent tonsillectomy in our hospital in the past five years. The ratio of postoperative hemorrhage was 11.8%. All patients with post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage were classified as grade 1 bleeding (spontaneous cessation).