The significance of the size of the palatine tonsil.

Abstract

Five hundred and seventy‐one pairs of tonsils were weighed after removal from children aged from two to 12 years. The distribution of weights formed a normal distribution curve, with a mean weight of 7.3 gm, 63% being between 5 and 8 grammes. Of one group of 302 children, 60% had been recorded as having large tonsils, whereas only 10% of the excised tonsils were in fact large. The children with large tonsils had less tonsillitis on the average than the 121 children on the waiting list for adenotonsillectomy over a two‐year period. After removal of large tonsils, the health of these children was not as good as it was in the 204 post‐tonsillectomy children observed over a two‐year period. There was no close correlation between histological appearance and size. The increase mean weight by age from two to 12 years was 5.3 to 7.8 gm, and in relation to body weight from 9.5 to 51 kg, 6 to 9.2 gm, such increases being of a barely detectable amount. The evidence presented indicates that the size of the tonsils has no clinical significance.