The problem of hemorrhages following tonsillectomy.

Abstract

The hemorrhages following tonsillectomy are one of the most feared, and more to be feared, of the complications in the otolaryngological surgery, demanding even of the best surgeons serious precautions to keep themselves and their patients free from such dreaded intercurrence. Even though an extensive bibliography exists on this subject, it remains, nevertheless, a problem of the utmost importance. And, as strange as it may seem, its solutions are yet to be found through study and research, since we are still far from reaching definitive conclusions concerning the prophylaxis and therapeutics of the said complication. There seems to be no doubt about the fact that, ever since the so-called tonsillotomy (which might be better called subtotal tonsillectomy) was abandoned, the matter underwent a complete change. The fulminating cases, which Sebileau called cataclysmic, belong to the past, when operations were done blindly, employing such apparatus as Fahnestock's guillotine-tonsillotome or Hartmann's and