Abstract
Introduction
The definition of severe recurrent throat infections is arbitrary, but recent criteria have defined severe tonsillitis as: five or more episodes of true tonsillitis a year; symptoms for at least 1 year; and episodes that are disabling and prevent normal functioning. Diagnosis of acute tonsillitis is clinical, and it can be difficult to distinguish viral from bacterial infections. Rapid antigen testing has a very low sensitivity in the diagnosis of bacterial tonsillitis, but more accurate tests take longer to deliver results. Bacteria are cultured from few people with tonsillitis. Other causes include infectious mononucleosis from Epstein-Barr virus infection, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, HIV, hepatitis A, and rubella.
Methods and outcomes
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of tonsillectomy in children and adults with acute recurrent or chronic throat infections? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to April 2014 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Results
We found 15 studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.
Conclusions
In this systematic review, we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: cold-steel tonsillectomy and diathermy tonsillectomy.
Key Points
Diagnosis of acute tonsillitis is clinical, and it can be difficult to distinguish viral from bacterial infections.
Rapid antigen testing has a very low sensitivity in the diagnosis of bacterial tonsillitis, but more accurate tests take longer to deliver results.
Bacteria are cultured from few people with tonsillitis. Other causes include infectious mononucleosis from Epstein-Barr virus infection, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, HIV, hepatitis A, and rubella.
Acute tonsillitis with group A beta-haemolytic streptococci can occasionally cause rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis, which can be prevented by treatment with penicillin.
In resource-rich countries, these complications are so rare that routine aggressive antibiotic use cannot be justified.
Tonsillectomy, with or without adenoidectomy, is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in the UK.
In adults, we found limited evidence from one small RCT that surgery may reduce sore throats at 5 to 6 months, but we found no longer-term evidence. Tonsillectomy may be associated with morbidity.
In children, the effectiveness of tonsillectomy has to be judged against the potential harms. Tonsillectomy is more beneficial in children with severe symptoms, while in populations with a low incidence of tonsillitis, the modest benefit may be outweighed by the morbidity associated with the surgery.
The use of diathermy in tonsillectomy in adults or children is associated with reduced rates of primary bleeding, but increased rates of secondary and overall bleeding.
Overall, cold-steel dissection tonsillectomy seems to have the lowest rates of postoperative haemorrhage and pain, although it is associated with slightly increased intra-operative bleeding. The use of diathermy in tonsillectomy must be weighed against its potential harms.
Adequate training in the appropriate use of diathermy during tonsillectomy is important. In deciding which method to apply, the surgeon should consider the underlying characteristics of patients, as well as the relative importance of secondary compared with primary bleeding and intra-operative blood loss compared with postoperative pain.
About this condition
Definition
The definition of severe recurrent throat infections is arbitrary, but recent criteria have defined severe tonsillitis as: five or more episodes of true tonsillitis a year; symptoms for at least 1 year; and episodes that are disabling and prevent normal functioning. However, in most cases, the severity of recurrent throat infections depends on many factors and cannot be judged solely on the basis of its incidence. This definition does not include tonsillitis caused by infectious mononucleosis, which usually occurs as a single episode. However, acute tonsillitis in this situation may be followed by recurrent tonsillitis in some people. Tonsillitis may occur in isolation or as part of a generalised pharyngitis. The clinical distinction between tonsillitis and pharyngitis is unclear in the literature, and the condition is often referred to simply as 'acute sore throat'. A sore throat lasting for 24 to 48 hours as part of the prodrome of minor upper respiratory tract infection is excluded from this definition. Diagnosis of acute tonsillitis is primarily clinical, with the main interest being in whether the illness is viral or bacterial — this being of relevance if antibiotics are being considered. Studies have attempted to distinguish viral from bacterial sore throat on clinical grounds, but the results are conflicting, suggesting a lack of reliable diagnostic criteria. Investigations to assist with this distinction include throat swabs and serological tests, including the rapid antigen test and the antistreptolysin O titre. Rapid antigen testing is convenient and popular in North America, but has doubtful sensitivity (61%–95%), at least when measured against throat swab results, although specificity is higher (88%–100%). However, the inevitable delay in reporting of both swabs and the antistreptolysin O titre reduce their value in the routine clinical situation.
Incidence/ Prevalence
Recurrent sore throat has an incidence in general practice in the UK of 100 per 1000 population per year. Acute tonsillitis is more common in childhood.
Aetiology/ Risk factors
Common bacterial pathogens include beta-haemolytic and other streptococci. Bacteria are cultured from only a minority of people with tonsillitis. The role of viruses is uncertain. In tonsillitis associated with infectious mononucleosis, the most common infective agent is the Epstein-Barr virus (present in 50% of children and 90% of adults with the condition). Cytomegalovirus infection may also result in the clinical picture of infectious mononucleosis, and the differential diagnosis also includes toxoplasmosis, HIV, hepatitis A, and rubella.
Prognosis
We found no good data on the natural history of tonsillitis or recurrent sore throat in children or adults. People in RCTs randomised to medical treatment (courses of antibiotics as required) have shown a tendency towards improvement over time. Recurrent severe tonsillitis results in considerable morbidity, including time lost from school or work. The most common complication of acute tonsillitis is peritonsillar abscess, but we found no good evidence on its incidence. Rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis are recognised complications of acute tonsillitis associated with group A beta-haemolytic streptococci. These diseases are rare in resource-rich countries, but do occasionally occur. They are still a common problem in certain populations, notably Australian aboriginal people, and may be effectively prevented in closed communities by the use of penicillin. A systematic review found that antibiotics reduced the incidence of these diseases. However, in resource-rich countries, these diseases are so rare that routine aggressive antibiotic use is not justified. The review also found that antibiotics shorten the duration of illness by about 16 hours overall.
Aims of intervention
To abolish tonsillitis; to reduce the frequency and severity of recurrent throat infections; to improve general wellbeing, behaviour, and educational achievement, with minimal adverse effects.
Outcomes
For all options, we report: episodes of tonsillitis or sore throat (includes analgesia for tonsillitis or sore throat and antibiotic use); and time off school or work. For options comparing surgical techniques versus each other, we also report: surgery: bleeding (intra-operative and postoperative), and surgery: postoperative pain (includes analgesia use for pain from surgery).
Methods
Clinical Evidence search and appraisal April 2014. The following databases were used to identify studies for this systematic review: Medline 1966 to April 2014, Embase 1980 to April 2014, and The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014, issue 4 (1966 to date of issue). Additional searches were carried out in the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) and the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Database. We also searched for retractions of studies included in the review. Titles and abstracts identified by the initial search, run by an information specialist, were first assessed against predefined criteria by an evidence scanner. Full texts for potentially relevant studies were then assessed against predefined criteria by an evidence analyst. Studies selected for inclusion were discussed with an expert contributor. All data relevant to the review were then extracted by an evidence analyst. Study design criteria for inclusion in this review were: published systematic reviews and RCTs in English language, at least single-blinded, and containing >20 individuals of whom >80% were followed up. There was no minimum follow-up for cold-steel tonsillectomy versus diathermy tonsillectomy. There was a minimum length of follow-up of 6 months to 1 year for tonsillectomy versus no surgery in adults or children. For this comparison, we have preferentially reported outcomes at 1 year where they have been reported. We excluded all studies described as 'open', 'open label', or not blinded unless blinding was impossible. We included RCTs and systematic reviews of RCTs, where harms of an included intervention were assessed, applying the same study design criteria for inclusion as we did for benefits. In addition, we use a regular surveillance protocol to capture harms alerts from organisations such as the FDA and the MHRA, which are added to the reviews as required. To aid readability of the numerical data in our reviews, we round many percentages to the nearest whole number. Readers should be aware of this when relating percentages to summary statistics such as relative risks (RRs) and odds ratios (ORs). We have performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions included in this review (see table). The categorisation of the quality of the evidence (high, moderate, low, or very low) reflects the quality of evidence available for our chosen outcomes in our defined populations of interest. These categorisations are not necessarily a reflection of the overall methodological quality of any individual study, because the Clinical Evidence population and outcome of choice may represent only a small subset of the total outcomes reported, and population included, in any individual trial. For further details of how we perform the GRADE evaluation and the scoring system we use, please see our website (www.clinicalevidence.com).
Table.
GRADE Evaluation of interventions for Tonsillitis.
| Important outcomes | Episodes of tonsillitis or sore throat, Surgery: bleeding, Surgery: postoperative pain, Time off school or work | ||||||||
| Studies (Participants) | Outcome | Comparison | Type of evidence | Quality | Consistency | Directness | Effect size | GRADE | Comment |
| What are the effects of tonsillectomy in children and adults with acute recurrent or chronic throat infections? | |||||||||
| at least 9 (at least 780) | Surgery: bleeding | Cold-steel tonsillectomy versus diathermy tonsillectomy | 4 | –2 | 0 | –1 | 0 | Very low | Quality points deducted for incomplete reporting of results and for RCTs possibly being underpowered to detect a clinically significant difference in one outcome; directness point deducted for no statistical analysis between groups in 1 RCT |
| 8 (676) | Surgery: postoperative pain | Cold-steel tonsillectomy versus diathermy tonsillectomy | 4 | –1 | 0 | –1 | 0 | Low | Quality point deducted for incomplete reporting of results; directness point deducted for no statistical analysis between groups in 2 RCTs |
| 7 (at least 1886 children) | Episodes of tonsillitis or sore throat | Tonsillectomy versus no surgery in children | 4 | –2 | 0 | –1 | 0 | Very low | Quality points deducted for weak methods and incomplete reporting of results; directness point deducted for inclusion of adenotonsillectomy as main intervention |
| 13 (1436) | Time off school or work | Tonsillectomy versus no surgery in children | 4 | –2 | 0 | –1 | 0 | Very low | Quality points deducted for weak methods and incomplete reporting of results; directness point deducted for inclusion of adenotonsillectomy as main intervention |
| 1 (70) | Episodes of tonsillitis or sore throat | Tonsillectomy versus no surgery in adults | 4 | –2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Low | Quality points deducted for sparse data and short follow-up |
We initially allocate 4 points to evidence from RCTs, and 2 points to evidence from observational studies. To attain the final GRADE score for a given comparison, points are deducted or added from this initial score based on preset criteria relating to the categories of quality, directness, consistency, and effect size. Quality: based on issues affecting methodological rigour (e.g., incomplete reporting of results, quasi-randomisation, sparse data [<200 people in the analysis]). Consistency: based on similarity of results across studies. Directness: based on generalisability of population or outcomes. Effect size: based on magnitude of effect as measured by statistics such as relative risk, odds ratio, or hazard ratio.
Glossary
- Low-quality evidence
Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate.
- Very low-quality evidence
Any estimate of effect is very uncertain.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this publication is intended for medical professionals. Categories presented in Clinical Evidence indicate a judgement about the strength of the evidence available to our contributors prior to publication and the relevant importance of benefit and harms. We rely on our contributors to confirm the accuracy of the information presented and to adhere to describe accepted practices. Readers should be aware that professionals in the field may have different opinions. Because of this and regular advances in medical research we strongly recommend that readers' independently verify specified treatments and drugs including manufacturers' guidance. Also, the categories do not indicate whether a particular treatment is generally appropriate or whether it is suitable for a particular individual. Ultimately it is the readers' responsibility to make their own professional judgements, so to appropriately advise and treat their patients. To the fullest extent permitted by law, BMJ Publishing Group Limited and its editors are not responsible for any losses, injury or damage caused to any person or property (including under contract, by negligence, products liability or otherwise) whether they be direct or indirect, special, incidental or consequential, resulting from the application of the information in this publication.
Contributor Information
Christos C. Georgalas, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Neil S. Tolley, Department of ENT, St Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
Professor Anthony Narula, Department of ENT, St Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
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