POST-TONSILLECTOMY BACTEREMIA IN CHILDREN

It has been postulated that the bacteraemia rate following guillotine tonsillectomy is lower than that following dissection tonsillectomy du e to intra-operative compression of tonsillar blood vessels by the gui llotine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of bacter aemia following dissection and guillotine tonsillectomy. Sixty-four pa tients undergoing elective tonsillectomy for recurrent acute tonsillit is were randomly-selected, 32 underwent dissection tonsillectomy and 3 2 guillotine tonsillectomy. Positive intra-operative blood cultures we re obtained in 16 patients (25 per cent), nine (28.1 per cent) of the dissection group and seven (21.8 per cent) of the guillotine group. Th ere was no significant difference between the two methods (Chi-squared test, p = 0.77).