The relationship between smoking and postoperative hemorrhage in tonsillectomy

Abstract

Tonsillectomy is still the most common major surgical procedure in otolaryngology. Postoperative hemorrhage in tonsillectomy is a serious complication and, very rarely, causes death. There are some studies on risk factors for postoperative hemorrhage in tonsillectomy, many of which demonstrate that the human factor is one of the risks. However, whether smoking is a risk factor for postoperative hemorrhage in tonsillectomy or not remains to be elucidated. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 216 patients ranging in age from 20 to 65 years who underwent tonsillectomy in Nagasaki Genbaku Hospital from January 2009 to September 2017. Postoperative hemorrhage occurred in 38 of the 216 patients （18％） and also occurred in 18 of 135 non-smokers （13％）. In smokers 20 of 81 patients （25％） suffered postoperative hemorrhage, which was a significantly higher rate than in non-smokers （P＝0.0423）. We have demonstrated that smoking is a risk factor for postoperative hemorrhage in tonsillectomy.