Management of Posttonsillectomy Pain: Best Practices (2023 AMW)
2023 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO Experience
Tonsillectomy remains one of the most commonly performed procedures in the US, with between 250-500,000 surgeries done annually. The primary morbidity following operation is oropharyngeal pain resulting in dysphagia, decreased oral intake, and dehydration with readmission to hospital and sleep disturbance among possibilities. Despite this, in the 2019 AAOHNSF clinical practice guideline on tonsillectomy in children, there was "[p]erception by the panel that pain control is often underemphasized and inadequately discussed before and after tonsillectomy." This is an opportunity to review the current evidence on post-tonsillectomy pain control including complementary/integrative approaches, recognize the optimal strategies, and implement as best practices for the benefit of our patients.
Credits
CME:1.0, MOC:1.0