Reusable versus disposable instruments in tonsillectomy: a comparative study of outcomes

Abstract

Tonsillectomy, traditionally performed using reusable instruments (RIs), has recently been performed using disposable instruments (DIs), to prevent the theoretical risk of spreading new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Following this, there have been concerns of increased risk of complications, especially haemorrhage. We audited our hospital's complication rates of 100 tonsillectomies performed using RI and 100 using DIs. We analysed the overall complication rates and the postoperative haemorrhage rates. and compared them with the broader groups of RIs versus DIs. We also compared patients who did not have diathermy with those who did have diathermy. The overall complication rate was 6% with RIs and 33% with DIs and the haemorrhage rate was 1% and 12%, respectively. With DIs, these rates were significantly higher in the diathermy subgroup. We believe this is the first study to look at the complications due to DIs.