New Guidelines Released For Tonsil Removal

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Getting your tonsils taken out is so common it's almost like a rite of passage for many youngsters.

In fact, half a million children undergo this procedure every year – some of them for infections.

A new study is saying watchful waiting might be the better strategy.

For repeated throat infections, many kids have their tonsils taken out.

But for many of these cases -- not so fast, says the professional group of ear, nose, and throat doctors.

"What happens if you don't take the tonsils out? Does it settle down?" Dr. Depak Mehta, an ENT at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh said. "And if you see that a good number of patients over a period of time, it will settle down, why put a child through surgery?"

The routine procedure has small, but real risks.

"Postoperative pain, there's a small risk of bleeding," Dr. Mehta lists. "Not too long back, we had a patient who had tonsillectomy somewhere else, but had a severe bleed and had to be airlifted and brought to our hospital."

The tonsils are lumps of tissue in the back of the throat thought to play a role in how the body responds to infection.

Taking them out is a consideration under the last set of guidelines made in 2000 for three cases of swollen, infected tonsils in a year.

The new guidelines say now seven cases in a year, five episodes a year for two consecutive years, or three a year for three years confirmed by a doctor.

But these are guidelines not hard and fast rules.

"You might have to compromise on let's say had six infections, but already lost two months of school," Dr Mehta explains. "Sometimes you might have to alter things based on individual situations."

For children with poor sleep, bed-wetting, slow growth, hyperactivity, or poor school performance, the operation might help.

"A lot of talk has gone into how it improves the snoring, but what happens to their behavior?" he continued. "We also need to see what happens to them long term as well."

Studies haven't consistently shown benefit for bed-wetting, hyperactivity and other behaviors because they can be caused by many different factors.