Swallowing in post-tonsillectomy patients has been poorly studied, since no publications were found by the authors. AIM: To determinate if there are and which are the alterations of swallowing after tonsillectomy. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical prospective. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Sixteen patients were submitted to tonsillectomy by the same technique and afterwards to fiberoptic endoscopy of swallowing, being offered thick liquid (non-diet yogurt), between the seventh and tenth postoperative day, being all the exams taped and reviewed by the authors for better control and observation; next, we compared with a control group used in another study conducted by the same center. RESULTS: We noticed an increase in the number of swallows necessary to give the patients' the sensation of clean throat (mean of 4.8) compared to normal exams (1-2), and 66.6% of the patients still had residues left on the pyriform recess. The authors showed in this study the alterations and relevant aspects of the fiberoptic endoscopy of swallowing in these patients, suggesting that we should be careful when indicating tonsillectomy to patients that potentially have dysphagia. CONCLUSIONS: The authors observed that postoperative tonsillectomy patients present a decrease in clearance during swallowing.
fiberoptic endoscopy of swallowing; tonsillectomy
