Hypothesis: Intravenous steroids provide significant benefit to patients undergoing tonsillectomy when administered in the perioperative period.
BACKGROUND
Tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy is the most frequent major
surgical procedure performed in children in the United States,1
with significant potential for perioperative and postoperative morbidity.
Patients may experience postoperative pain, vomiting, halitosis, trismus,
weight loss, and/or bleeding during their postsurgical
recovery.
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Tonsillectomy results in an open wound in the pharynx, which must heal
by secondary intention; significant edema and inflammation occur in the operative
bed. Steroid medications nonspecifically reduce inflammation, and so it follows
that perioperative steroid administration might be useful in decreasing postoperative
symptoms in patients undergoing tonsillectomy.
Both anesthesiologists and otolaryngologists have a professional interest
in reducing postoperative morbidity after tonsillectomy, especially as the
procedure is now commonly done in an ambulatory setting. This is reflected
in the authorship of the recent articles published on this . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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