Long-Term Results From Tonsillectomy in Adults

Tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical interventions overall (1). However, the number of studies on the subjective success for the patient is significantly lower than those on the economic and clinical data. As demonstrated by recent examples, both tonsillectomy itself as well as the frequency of its implementation—particularly in Germany—are sources of extensive discussions and criticism, which has also been expressed in the public media (2– 4). The large increase in publications is indicative of this trend. For instance, a MEDLINE search we carried out in 2008 for the terms “life quality AND tonsillectomy,” “benefit AND tonsillectomy,” and “economic AND tonsillectomy” resulted in only 11 relevant published studies that addressed the quality of life after tonsillectomy. Our same searches in 2014 resulted in more than 30 relevant publications, although most of those studies addressed the clinical results, as measured by objective postoperative results (5– 10). In the meantime, however, more studies are available in which the patient’s subjective assessment has also been taken into account (11– 14). Another aspect that has also been discussed in the literature concerns the short follow-up period: so far, statements about the postoperative success can only be made in terms of months to a few years. Studies in which a longer follow-up period was used are uncommon (14). As we had previously published a study on this subject in 2010 (15), we decided to interview the same patient collective again to examine whether the newly-obtained results were consistent. Thus, the aim of this descriptive study was to evaluate both the perceived changes in the quality of life after tonsillectomy as well as objective parameters, such as the number of physician visits and the use of resources, over a long term.