Reducing post-tonsillectomy pain with cryoanalgesia: A randomized controlled trial

Objective/Hypothesis: To evaluate the use of cryoanalgesia in reducing post -tonsillectomy pain. Study Design: A prospective, randomized double-blind s tudy of 59 consecutive patients (age range, 8-40 y) undergoing tonsillectom y for recurrent tonsillitis. Methods: All patients underwent bipolar tonsil lectomy. At the completion of the tonsillectomy patients were randomly assi gned to a control or a cryotherapy group. The cryotherapy patients had both their tonsillar fossa "supercooled" to between -20 degrees C and -32 degre es C for 1 minute. Patients recorded their pain using a visual analogue sca le over the next 10 days. Patients mere also monitored for postoperative co mplications, time until resumption of a normal diet, time back to work or s chool, and analgesic consumption. Results: The two groups were similar for age and sex; There was a 28.3% reduction in mean pain scores over the 10 da ys in the cryotherapy compared to the control group. This difference did no t significantly depend on the day after operation or time of the day. Cryot herapy patients also returned to work or school, on average, 4 days earlier than controls. There was no significant difference in postoperative compli cations between the two groups. Conclusion: Cryotherapy is a new technique that significantly reduces post-tonsillectomy pain without evidence of caus ing additional complications.