[(Adeno)tonsillectomy in children. A follow-up study].

A retrospective study was performed where parents of 246 children who had undergone (adeno)-tonsillectomy received a questionnaire regarding the symptomatology (14 symptoms) before and after surgery. 92% of the parents were satisfied with the surgical outcome. 98% felt that their children were in a better condition after surgery. There was a significant improvement of all symptoms. The expectations of the parents were fulfilled. The major complaint was the waiting time for operation. In order to reduce the cost of health care an increasing number of operations are performed as day-care surgery. Less than 1% of the parents in our study would like to have the tonsillectomy performed on a day case basis. Anyhow, the majority of the patients would have failed to meet the criteria for outpatient surgery because of obstructive sleep apnoea, recent history of upper airway infection or because they were living too far from the hospital.