Enhanced Recovery After Tonsillectomy
Summary: Approximately 100 million tonsillectomies have been
performed worldwide in the century since the procedure was popularised.
In Australia, tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical
procedures, with over 16,500 operations occurring at public hospitals
annually. In the United States, about 186,000 procedures are performed
on an outpatient basis every year(1). In spite of the fact that
tonsillectomy remains a very common surgical procedure, there is little
evidence to support traditional perioperative practices. Currently, some
patients are given fasting instructions by the hospital/nursing staff
and some patients are given fasting instructions by the anaesthetists
per standard international guidelines.
This study is the first of its kind that investigates perioperative
fasting for patients undergoing tonsillectomy with or without
adenoidectomy.