BehindTheMedspeak: 'Tonsillectomy has little clinical benefit'

Conclusion of the latest study of this always controversial subject.

This week's British Medical Journal contains the results of a study performed in the Netherlands of 300 children with chronic throat infections.

They were randomly sorted into two groups: one had their tonsils and adenoids removed within six weeks, the other did not.

After an average follow-up period of 22 months, those who had the surgery had about the same incidence of subsequent throat infections as those who didn't.

The doctors also noted that 6% of those who had the operation had complications, including two who had to undergo additional surgery to deal with bleeding.