POWER-ASSISTED ADENOIDECTOMY

Objective: To quantify that the use of powered instrumentation for ade noidectomy is an improvement over traditional techniques. Design: Retr ospective case series of 40 consecutive children undergoing power-assi sted adenoidectomy compared with 40 consecutive children undergoing co nventional transoral adenoidectomy with a curet. Setting: Tertiary car e center. Main Outcome Measures: Operative time, blood loss, length of hospitalization, and complications. Results: With power-assisted aden oidectomy, the mean operative time was significantly faster (11 minute s vs 19 minutes for the conventional method), mean blood loss was not significantly different (22 mL vs 32 mL for the conventional method), mean length of hospitalization after the procedure was not significant ly different (2.95 hours vs 2.8 hours for the conventional method), an d there were no surgical complications with either technique. Conclusi on: In comparison with conventional techniques, power-assisted adenoid ectomy provides significant advantages that are subjectively apparent but can also be objectively measured.