POST-TONSILLECTOMY HEMORRHAGE: THE EFFECT OF BISMUTH SUBGALLATE
1Başkent Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye2Hacettepe Üniversitesi Fen Fakültesi, İstatistik Bölümü, Anakara, Türkiye Introduction: There are studies reporting that bismuth subgallate has both positive and negative effects on oral mucosal wounds. However, studies investigating the effect of primary and secondary bleeding after tonsillectomy in the literature are not current and very limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of bismuth subgallate applied during tonsillectomy on primary and secondary bleeding.
Methods: The data of patients who underwent tonsillectomy and/or adenotonsillectomy under general anesthesia between March 2011 and June 2020 were reviewed retrospectively and 408 patients were included in the study. Primary and secondary bleeding rates of patients in groups with and without bismuth subgallate were compared.
Results: In the bismuth subgallate group, there were 190 patients aged between 2 and 72 (9.77 ± 10.77), and 218 patients aged between 2 and 64 (11.30 ± 10.97) in the control group. While primary bleeding was not observed after tonsillectomy in both groups, late bleeding was observed in 3 (1.6%) patients in the bismuth subgallate group and in 7 (3.2%) patients in the control group. Although more bleeding was observed in more patients in the control group, no statistically significant difference was found (x2 = 1.131, p = 0.349). No complication developed in any of our patients due to bismuth subgallate application.
Conclusion: The application of a mixture of bismuth subgallate and epinephrine to the surgical field during tonsillectomy does not have a positive or negative effect on primary and secondary bleeding in the postoperative period.
Keywords : Bismuth subgallate, hemorrhage, post-tonsillectomy, wound healing