Biomedical subjects

K Senska

Publications and source records attributed to K Senska.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Bilateral peritonsillar abscesses.

In the discussion about the management of the peritonsillar abscess (PTA) in regard to the pros and cons of tonsillectomy à chaud versus à froid, the risk of obscure contralateral abscesses is often neglected. To the authors' knowledge, there are only a few series of PTA being analyzed for the abscess rate of bilateral PTA. A group of 541 abscess tonsillectomies was retrospectively analyzed for the presence of a bilateral manifestation of peritonsillar abscess. Twenty-one patients (3.88%) had bilateral abscesses. None of these had been detected prior to the operation. Of the 541 patients, 2.22% had postoperative hemorrhages that had to be arrested under general anesthesia. Within the discussion about abscess tonsillectomy versus stab incision followed by interval tonsillectomy (à froid), the rate of almost 4% bilateral abscesses should be taken into consideration as dangerous complications such as mediastinitis could develop from the remaining abscess formation of the contralateral side.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

[Smoking promotes the formation of peritonsillar abscesses].

INTRODUCTION: Smoking has not properly been investigated as a predisposing factor for the development of a peritonsillar abscess. METHODS: In a retrospective study a group of 541 abscess tonsillectomies--performed in the department of Otorhinolaryngology (University of Duisburg/Essen) between 1994-2003--was retrospectively analysed for smoking habits of the patients. Further on we investigated the influence of smoking on the risk for a postoperative haemorrhage. RESULTS: Smoking habits of 519/541 were known, 296/519 (57%) were smokers, which is much more than expected with regard to the prevalence of smokers in the German population. Beneath the 2.2% of patients with a postoperative haemorrhage that had to be arrested under general anaesthesia no statistical relation between the occurrence of a postoperative haemorrhage and smoking was found. CONCLUSION: Smoking could be an important predisposing factor for the development of peritonsillar abscess e. g. due to alteration of the mucosa and microbiological changes. We could not identify a statistical relation between smoking and the risk of a postoperative haemorrhage after tonsillectomy à chaud.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage: a retrospective comparison of abscess- and elective tonsillectomy.

CONCLUSION: There is no increased risk of postoperative haemorrhage for abscess tonsillectomies in comparison to elective tonsillectomies. OBJECTIVE: There is still controversy as regards the optimal management of peritonsillar abscess. Opponents of tonsillectomy à chaud cite an increased postoperative bleeding risk. Most authors who compared the risks of postoperative haemorrhage after tonsillectomy à chaud and tonsillectomy à froid did not take into consideration criteria such as the age and gender of the patients or the experience of the surgeon. We aimed to eliminate this bias by performing a retrospective study in which a large series of abscess tonsillectomies were compared with an age- and gender-matched group of elective tonsillectomies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All patients had been operated on at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Duisburg-Essen between March 1994 and August 2000. There were 350 patients in the abscess tonsillectomy group (61% male, 39% female; mean age 31.8 years; range 3-88 years) and 311 in the elective tonsillectomy comparison group (61% male, 39% female; mean age 30.0 years; range 2-83 years). RESULTS: In the abscess tonsillectomy group, 9 patients (2.6%; confidence level 1.1-4.8%) had postoperative haemorrhages which required treatment under general anaesthesia, compared to 17 (5.5%; confidence level 3.2-8.6%) in the age- and gender-matched group of "selected" elective tonsillectomies. The difference between these two rates was not significant (p = 0.056). The fairly high rate of haemorrhages in the elective tonsillectomy group was mainly due to the effect of the age-matching procedure, which excluded a considerable number of usually unproblematic tonsillectomies for tonsillar hyperplasia in young children. Moreover, our results show that there is a learning curve for surgeons performing tonsillectomies with regard to postoperative haemorrhages.

Adolescent↗