A Comparative Clinicopathologic Analysis of Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy Cases: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Objective: In this retrospective study, we aimed to determine the rate of malignancy detected in patients who underwent tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy or adenotonsillectomy in our clinic, and to correlate the clinical findings of adults and children by giving their histopathological analysis. Methods: Histopathological specimens of 288 adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy cases operated in our clinic between years of 2017-2019 were collected retrospectively and re-evaluated with clinical data. Results: Malignancy was suspected clinically in 12.8% (n=37) of all cases, and most of them (n=33) were in tonsillectomy group. Although reactive lymphoid hyperplasia was a common diagnosis among all cases (92.7%), 11 (3.8%) patients were diagnosed as a benign/malign neoplasm. The malignancy rate among all cases was found to be 2.1% (6/288), among tonsillectomy cases was 8.8% (6/68). All malignancies were detected among tonsillectomy cases in adults. Conclusion: This retrospective analysis of adenotonsillar surgeries correlated with histopathological findings showed that the incidence of tonsil neoplasm in adult patients is higher than the previously published data. In the tonsillar tissues presenting with a surgical indication of clinical suspicion for malignancy such as ulceration and necrosis, and of enlargement of tonsils, a histopathological evaluation are obviously warranted. These results are in agreement with that a routine histopathological examination is needed to be regardless of the clinically presence of high malignancy suspicion prior to tonsillectomy in adults.An Erratum to this article was published on 05 January 2021. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/kusbed/issue/59476/854715