2026/06/01 by Ilias Lazarou, Giorgos Sideris, Dimitrios Palantzas +2 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Medicine · #Dysphagia Assessment and Management #Obstructive Sleep Apnea Research #Respiratory and Cough-Related Research
paper · doi:10.1017/s0022215126105076
crossref issued 2026/06/01 · crossref published 2026/06/01 · crossref published-online 2026/06/01 · openalex publication_date 2026/06/01 · crossref created 2026/06/01 · openalex created_date 2026/06/02 · crossref deposited 2026/07/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/16 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30
OBJECTIVES: bilateral hot tonsillectomy in managing peri-tonsillar abscesses. METHODS: Literature review in Medline and other database sources, and critical analysis of data. RESULTS: Management options for peri-tonsillar abscesses range from intravenous antibiotics alone or needle aspiration for small collections to incision and drainage or abscess tonsillectomy for larger ones. Regarding the latter, there is no clear consensus in the literature on favouring unilateral over bilateral excision. CONCLUSION: Conventional wisdom would suggest that operating on acutely inflamed tissue may increase the risk of bleeding due to engorged vessels and tissue friability. The potentially lower rate of post-operative haemorrhage in unilateral abscess tonsillectomy should be weighed against a potentially lower risk of future episodes in bilateral excisions. Furthermore, the improved efficiency of unilateral abscess tonsillectomy in terms of healthcare resource utilisation and operative time should be evaluated in the context of routinely performed interval contralateral tonsillectomies, potentially affecting operating theatre planning.