M. Bussi et al., ARE RECURRENT AND CHRONIC TONSILLITIS DIFFERENT ENTITIES - AN IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDY WITH SPECIFIC MARKERS OF INFLAMMATORY STAGES, Acta oto-laryngologica, 1996, pp. 112-114
It seems that there are clinical differences between tonsillitis in ch
ildren and adults. Tn order to verify whether such a supposed clinical
subdivision be true, tonsillar mononuclear cells from 20 children ope
rated on for recurrent tonsillitis caused by a common flora and 20 adu
lt patients with an indication for surgery for chronic tonsillitis wer
e studied by means of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) specific for the a
ntigens associated with each stage of the inflammatory response. BMA 4
D10 and BMA 27E10 MoAbs were used as markers for the early stages, BMA
RM 3/1 for the intermediate stage, BMA 25 F 9 for the late stage, and
BMA G 16/1 for the chronic stage. The results indicate that chronic t
onsillitis in the adult should be considered as such (higher expressio
n of antigens associated with the chronic stages (p = 0.039), low and
even lower expression of those associated with the intermediate and ac
ute stages, respectively), whereas tonsillitis in children could perha
ps be more correctly regarded as an expression of recurrent inflammati
on (higher expression of antigens associated with the acute stages (p
= 0.022)). Results are presented and discussed.