Intracapsular Coblation Tonsillectomy – Starship Hospital Experience So Far
Michael Zang, Registrar, Starship Child Health, New Zealand
Authors List
Dr Michael Zhenggu Zang, Mr Craig McCaffer, Mr Ed Toll
Starship Children’s Hospital, Park Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023, New Zealand
Aims – Intracapsular coblation tonsillectomy is becoming more prevalent compared to traditional extracapsular techniques internationally. Recent published data suggests much lower rates of post operative pain and haemorrhage compared to alternative techniques. It has become standard practice at Starship for routine tonsillectomies. We would like to examine our post-operative complication rates and compare to published international results.
Methods – Retrospective observational cohort study of all tonsillectomies performed by the Paediatric ORL department between March 2021 to Feb 2022. The following data will be collected from clinical records – surgical technique used, primary bleed rate, readmission to hospital for pain, readmission for secondary bleed and return to theatre rates.
Results – We are expecting to have 450 patients with around half having undergone coblation tonsillectomy. Preliminary data suggests results in line with international studies with very low complication rates including secondary bleed rate of <1%.
Conclusions –In line with other major centres, our preliminary data suggests intracapsular coblation tonsillectomy is superior to traditional techniques in terms of post-operative complications. We would encourage its use more widely across Australasia.
References:
1. Mahadevan M, van der Meer G, Gruber M, Reed P, Jackson C, Brown C, et al. The Starship children’s hospital tonsillectomy: A further 10 years of experience. Laryngoscope. 2016 Dec 1;126(12):E416–20.
2. Powell S, Tweedie DJ, Jonas NE, Bateman ND, Keltie K, Sims AJ. Coblation intracapsular tonsillectomy: A cohort study of NHS practice in England using Hospital Episode Statistics. Clinical Otolaryngology. 2022 May 1;47(3):471–7.
- Zang, MZ., Starship Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand
- McCaffer, C., Starship Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand
- Toll, E., Starship Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand
Dr Michael Zhenggu Zang, Mr Craig McCaffer, Mr Ed Toll
Starship Children’s Hospital, Park Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023, New Zealand
Aims – Intracapsular coblation tonsillectomy is becoming more prevalent compared to traditional extracapsular techniques internationally. Recent published data suggests much lower rates of post operative pain and haemorrhage compared to alternative techniques. It has become standard practice at Starship for routine tonsillectomies. We would like to examine our post-operative complication rates and compare to published international results.
Methods – Retrospective observational cohort study of all tonsillectomies performed by the Paediatric ORL department between March 2021 to Feb 2022. The following data will be collected from clinical records – surgical technique used, primary bleed rate, readmission to hospital for pain, readmission for secondary bleed and return to theatre rates.
Results – We are expecting to have 450 patients with around half having undergone coblation tonsillectomy. Preliminary data suggests results in line with international studies with very low complication rates including secondary bleed rate of <1%.
Conclusions –In line with other major centres, our preliminary data suggests intracapsular coblation tonsillectomy is superior to traditional techniques in terms of post-operative complications. We would encourage its use more widely across Australasia.
References:
1. Mahadevan M, van der Meer G, Gruber M, Reed P, Jackson C, Brown C, et al. The Starship children’s hospital tonsillectomy: A further 10 years of experience. Laryngoscope. 2016 Dec 1;126(12):E416–20.
2. Powell S, Tweedie DJ, Jonas NE, Bateman ND, Keltie K, Sims AJ. Coblation intracapsular tonsillectomy: A cohort study of NHS practice in England using Hospital Episode Statistics. Clinical Otolaryngology. 2022 May 1;47(3):471–7.
