NDRI.com

Benefits of Tonsillectomy in Children, Might be Prevention of Recurrent Strep Throat Infection

Tonsils are glandular tissue located on both sides of the throat. The tonsils trap bacteria and viruses entering through the throat and produce antibodies to help fight infections.

Tonsillitis occurs when tonsils become infected and swell. If you look down your child's throat with a flashlight, the tonsils may be red and swollen or have a white or yellow coating on them. Other symptoms of tonsillitis may include:

sore throat
pain or discomfort when swallowing
fever
raspy voice
swollen glands (lymph nodes) in the neck

However, your child's doctor may suggest removal of the tonsils, called a tonsillectomy, if your child has one or more of the following:

persistent or recurrent tonsillitis
recurrent sore throats
recurrent throat infections
swollen tonsils that make it hard to breath
difficulty swallowing
obstructive sleep apnea (a condition in which your child may stop breathing for a few seconds at a time during sleep because enlarged tonsils are partially blocking the airway).

Intact tonsils can increase the risk of recurrent strep throat in children, a recent study finds.

Researchers studied 290 children, ages 4 to 16, and concluded that those who still had their tonsils were about three times more likely to have recurrent strep throat than those who'd had their tonsils removed (tonsillectomy).

Over an average of one year, nearly 59 percent of children with their tonsils had at least one strep infection, compared with just over 23 percent of those who'd had a tonsillectomy.

"These results suggest that tonsillectomy is a useful therapy for treating children with recurrent strep throat infections," senior study investigator Dr. Laura Orvidas, an ear, nose and throat surgeon, said in a prepared statement.

"(Tonsillectomy) should decrease the amount of infections experienced by this subset of children and therefore diminish the number of missed school days and hopefully improve overall quality of life," Orvidas said.

The study was published in the journal Laryngoscope.

Since the residual tonsil tissue remains, there is a very slight chance that it can re-enlarge or become infected and require more tonsil surgery. This risk is small and occurs in less than 1% of children undergoing this procedure.