AAP Studies Tonsillectomy Outcomes

With more than two decades of experience in pediatric care and sleep medicine, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva has held numerous clinical and administrative positions at various institutions. In his current role, Dr. Ramesh Sachdeva serves as an associate executive director for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The AAP recently published in its Pediatrics journal research that studies the effect that tonsillectomies have in the lives of children post-surgery compared to the watch-and-wait approach of addressing throat infections. While the procedure is commonly performed in children who have extremely high rates of throat infection, this research focused on tonsillectomies performed on children whose infection rates were not quite as severe. 

Researchers found that immediate benefits favored the surgical group versus those who opted not to have surgery. Children who had the surgery presented fewer instances of sore throat and consequently visited the doctor for these symptoms less in the first year after surgery. 

While there is not a large amount of long-term data available, preliminary reports suggest that the benefits of surgery become less pronounced over time. Additionally, quality-of-life assessments were negligibly different between the two groups.

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