[2000 year history of tonsillectomy. Images from the history of otorhinolaryngology, highlighted by instruments from the collection of the German Medical History Museum in Ingolstadt].

BACKGROUND: The etymology of the anatomical terms and their use in history are elucidated: "Tonsil" (from Latin tonsa = the oar) in use since Celsus (about 40 AD). The Greek terms of that time, "antiádes", "paristhmia", were not adopted in later medical terminology. "Amygdala" (Greek/Latin = the almond) was introduced by Vesalius in 1543. Vesalius was also the first to depict the tonsils in a specimen of the whole human body; Duverney (1761) gives the first exact depiction of the pharyngeal region. Special anatomical and histological studies of the tonsils were carried out in the 19 century.

DIGITAL EXTRACTION OF THE TONSILS: Cornelius Celsus in Rome (about 40 AD) described the blunt removal of the tonsils by use of the finger. This method was favoured anew by numerous laryngologists at the beginning of the 20th century when it had been realised that a gentle enucleation of the entire tonsil including its capsule was advisable against cutting off a slice, but before long this procedure was discarded again for hygienic reasons.

OPERATION WITH SNARES AND CUTTING INSTRUMENTS: Precursors of special instruments for tonsillectomy were instruments designed for shortening the uvula: uvulotomy. Paré (1564) and Scultetus (1655) devised instruments that permitted placing a thread shaped like a snare around the uvula and cutting it off by strangulation. Hildanus (1646), Scultetus (1655) and Heister (1763) presented an instrument of the guillotine-type for uvulotomy. This instrument was modified by P. S. Physick (USA 1828) and used for tonsillotomy. It became the prototype for a number of similar instruments which were to follow: W. M. F. Fahnestock (USA 1832). M. Mackenzie (London 1880), G. Sluder (USA 1911). Besides these guillotines snares were also perfected and used for tonsillotomy, e.g. by W. Brünings (1908). The concentration on tonsillotomy aimed at performing the operation as quickly as possible, especially in children, as it was not yet possible to sustain general anaesthesia for a longer period of time while doing surgery in the pharynx. The operation of the tonsils, that had been started by general surgeons, at the end of the 19th century became the domain of the otolaryngologists because they had the superior technique of illumination. Important steps of progress were later on mouth-gags combined with tongue-depressors, and placing the head in a suspended and reclined position. This position had already been advocated by Killian in 1920, but it could only be introduced after improved techniques of general anaesthesia were available. These stages of historical development are described and illustrated with many details.