Efficacy of Sucralfate in the Early Postoperative Improvement of Pediatric Thermal Welding Adenotonsillectomy Morbidity

Abstract

Objective:Many surgical techniques and solutions have tried to improve the morbidity of pediatric adenotonsillectomy. Pain is mainly treated with analgesics, steroids and anaesthetics. However, various topical solutions such as sucralfate have been used for pain relief.Methods:We investigated the efficacy of sucralfate together with the TW technique on post-tonsillectomy morbidity in children. Our hypothesis was that the advantages of the TW technique might be improved by the protective coating effect of sucralfate on post-tonsillectomy morbidity. Patients were examined and scored clinically by their parents on the day of the operation and at the end of the day for the next 7 days. Throat pain was estimated by parents using the Faces Pain Scale-Revised from 0 to 10 with 0 representing the absence of pain and 10 maximal pain on postoperative days 1 to 7 while swallowing, speaking and resting.Results:The daily pain scores over the entire 7-day postoperative period were consistently lower in the sucralfate group than in the placebo group. The reduction of throat pain was significantly lower in the sucralfate group compared to the placebo group from the 1st to the 3rd postoperative day.Conclusion:Our study demonstrates that sucralfate is safe and improves post-tonsillectomy analgesia in combination with the TW technique in children.

Keywords

• pediatric tonsillectomy
• sucralfate
• morbidity
• thermal welding
• faces pain scale
• quality of life