Adenotonsillectomy; indications and application of surgical techniques.

As a result of audiometric surveys in public schools, many children are being referred to physicians for further examination and definitive treatment. Therefore, the indications for adenotonsillectomy are reviewed. It is believed that the operation should not be done in infants with congenital deafness until full study of the problem has been completed, and that it should not be done routinely in children in whom there is no positive indication for it. When the operation is done, as much normal mucosa as possible should be saved. Closing the superior aspect of the incision with chromic suture is recommended as a means of avoiding a vertical band of scar tissue which may divide the tonsillar fossa into two parts.