The most important throat-related symptoms suggestive of chronic tonsillitis as the main indication for adult tonsillectomy

• Published in: Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Vol. 49; no. 5; pp. 219 - 222
• Main Authors: Pribuišienė, Rūta, Kuzminienė, Alina, Sarauskas, Valdas, Saferis, Viktoras, Pribuišis, Kipras, Rastenienė, Ieva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 01-01-2013
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Chronic Disease; Female; Humans; Lymph Nodes - pathology; Male; Middle Aged; Palatine Tonsil - pathology; Pharynx - pathology; Prospective Studies; Recurrence; Tonsillectomy; Tonsillitis - classification; Tonsillitis - pathology; Tonsillitis - surgery; Young Adult
• DOI: 10.3390/medicina49050035
• EISSN: 1648-9144

The literature lacks data about the evaluation of throat-related symptoms proving chronic tonsillitis as the most common indication for adult tonsillectomy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the most important throat-related symptoms suggestive of chronic tonsillitis in adults.
A prospective cohort study was carried out. The analysis of throat-related symptoms (complaints, tonsillitis rate, pharyngeal signs, and antistreptolysin-O titer) in 81 adults with histologically confirmed chronic tonsillitis was conducted.
Recurrent tonsillitis was the most common complaint (74.1%). The mean number of tonsillitis episodes was 3.6 (SD, 1.9) times per year. There were no significant differences comparing the frequencies of all the analyzed pharyngeal signs (P>0.05). The antistreptolysin-O titer (mean, 279.8; SD, 211.6 UL) was pathological in 33.3% of patients. The study identified the most important throat-related symptoms revealing chronic tonsillitis: tonsillar cryptic debris (OR, 8.84; 95% CI, 1.93-40.53; P=0.005) and enlarged anterior cervical lymph nodes along with the frequency of tonsillitis episodes exceeding 3 times per year (OR, 8.27; 95% CI, 1.33-51.57; P=0.024). The classification accuracy of 85.2% was obtained.
Tonsillar cryptic debris and enlarged regional lymph nodes along with recurrent tonsillitis could support the diagnosis of chronic tonsillitis in adults when considering tonsillectomy.