The Indications of Tonsillectomy Among Pediatric Patients: Our Nine-Year Retrospective Review

Tonsillectomy is a surgical procedure that involves removing the tonsils, often performed alongside adenoidectomy. Dating back to ancient times, it improves quality of life and can be life-saving when done for appropriate reasons. Common indications in children include recurrent tonsillitis and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Evidence suggests it reduces how often and how severe sore throats are in highly affected children. Symptoms such as lymphadenopathy, tonsillar pus, fever, or signs of streptococcal infection should be present for diagnosis of tonsillitis. Polysomnography (PSG) is essential to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and confirm airway obstruction. Our aim in this study is to determine the reasons for tonsillectomy in Taif, Saudi Arabia, since it is not well established before in this city. A nine-year retrospective analysis of case records of patients aged 0-18 years who have had tonsillectomy performed in a tertiary hospital. Data was analyzed using SPSS (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The research study involved analyzing data from 361 participants. Among the participants, 16.9% (n = 61) underwent tonsillectomy alone, while the majority (83.1%; n = 300) underwent tonsillectomy in combination with other procedures. The most common combined procedure was adenotonsillectomy (71.7%; n = 259). Additionally, adenotonsillectomy and insertion of grommets in other combinations was observed and was equal to 11.4% (n = 41) of the total percentage of our sample. The primary indications for tonsillectomy alone were chronic tonsillitis (42.6%; n = 26) and recurrent tonsillitis (49.2%; n = 30). Conclusion: This research study provides valuable information on the types of procedures performed and the indications for surgery in pediatric patients. The results highlight the prevalence of chronic and recurrent tonsillitis and adenotonsillitis as primary indications for tonsillectomy, either alone or in combination with other procedures. These findings contribute to our understanding of the clinical decision-making process and can aid healthcare professionals in providing optimal care for pediatric patients with tonsillar and adenotonsillar pathologies.