Adjuvant use of liquid alginate suspension for post-tonsillectomy morbidity: Double-blind randomized clinical trial of efficacy

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of liquid alginate suspension in alleviating post-tonsillectomy morbidity in adult patients. Methods: A prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study comparing the effect of liquid alginate suspension with placebo was performed on 40 patients who underwent tonsillectomy at Derince State Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey. The patients were randomly chosen, and each used liquid alginate suspension four times daily or a placebo solution at the same regimen. Tonsillectomy was performed under general anesthesia by cold dissection and suture ligation. Patients were examined at postoperative days 1, 3, 5, and 7 for healing, instructed to note the amount of analgesics used, and asked to mark the visual analog score of throat pain every day for a week. Results: The study group had statistically significant lower pain scores at day 2 (P = 0.03). Study group required less analgesic than the control group during the study period, but the difference was statistically different only on day 2 (P = 0.003) day. Healing was statistically significant on day 5 (P = 0.03) in the study group. Conclusion: Use of the antireflux suspensions in patients undergoing tonsillectomy may be effective in reducing postoperative morbidity in adjunct with classic analgesics. © 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.