Tonsil surgery in Sweden 2013–2015. Indications, surgical methods and patient-reported outcomes from the National Tonsil Surgery Register

Abstract

Aim: To describes how tonsil surgery was performed in Sweden from 2013 to 2015 with data from the National Tonsil Surgery Registry in Sweden (NTSRS).

Method: The registry collects data from both professionals and patients through questionnaires. A total of 33,870 tonsil surgeries were analysed, comprising approximately 80% of all tonsil surgeries in Sweden from 2013 to 2015.

Results: The two most common procedures were tonsillectomy (41%) and tonsillotomy with adenoidectomy (38%). Tonsillectomy was most commonly performed to treat frequent tonsillitis, while the main indication for tonsil surgery with combined adenoidectomy and for tonsillotomy alone was upper airway obstruction. The most commonly used techniques were cold steel (70%) for tonsillectomy/adenotonsillectomy and radiofrequency (79%) for tonsillotomy/adenotonsillotomy. Ninety-five percent of patients reported symptom relief after 180 d. Day surgery was utilised in 70% of the surgeries. The rate of readmission due to post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage was 5.1%. Male patients more often underwent tonsil surgery at preschool ages due to upper airway obstruction; in comparison, female patients to a larger extent underwent surgery in their early teens because of previous infections.

Conclusions: The NTSRS provides an opportunity to survey tonsil surgery in Sweden and to launch and follow up improvement programmes as desired.

Chinese abstract

目的: 根据瑞典国家扁桃体外科注册处（NTSRS）的资料, 描述2013年至2015年在瑞典进行的扁桃体手术。

方法: 注册处通过问卷调查收集了专业人员和患者的资料。 共分析了33,870例扁桃体手术, 占2013年至2015年在瑞典所有扁桃体手术的80％。

结果: 两种最常见的手术是扁桃体切除术（41％）和带腺样体切除的扁桃体切开术（38％）。扁桃体切除术最常用于治疗扁桃体炎, 而腺样体切除术和扁桃体切开术的综合扁桃体手术主要用于上呼吸道阻塞。最常用的技术是, 用于扁桃体切除术/腺扁桃体切除术的冷钢术（70％）和用于扁桃体切开术/腺扁桃体切开术的射频术（79％）。 180天后, 95％的患者报告症状缓解。 70％的手术采用了当日手术。扁桃体切除术后因出血再入院率为5.1％。男性患者更多地因上呼吸道阻塞而在学龄前接受扁桃体手术; 相比之下, 女性患者由于先前感染, 很多在青少年早期接受了手术。

结论: NTSRS提供了一个调查瑞典扁桃体手术的机会, 并根据需要启动和持续进行改进计划。

Keywords:

• Tonsil surgery
• tonsillotomy
• tonsillectomy
• national registry
• outcome
• complications

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge statistician Bengt Bengtsson from Statistiska Konsultgruppen AB for the statistical analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.