Countless children across the country have to have their tonsils taken out every day. But do you know which procedure is best for your child? There is a new tonsil-removing surgery that parents should know about according to Fox News.
Fox News reports that, “More than 530,000 children under the age of 15 have their tonsils removed each year. About 80 percent have obstructive sleep problems- snoring, irregular breathing- and the rest are because of infection.” This is a whopping number of children thus it is important for parents to know of a new procedure known as P.I.T.A. discussed in this article by Fox News.
Tonsillectomies are extremely common and in the past consisted of the electrocautery method; “Using a handheld metal probe heated by an electric current, the tonsil is destroyed and bleeding is controlled,” Fox writes. This old method is associated with much pain and a long recovery process. But now there is a new and improved method that parents should know about- Partial Intracapsular Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy (P.I.T.A.).
P.I.T.A. consists of a surgeon, “Shaving the tonsils with a rotating blade and uses suction to stop the bleeding,” according to Fox. One doctor told Fox that during P.I.T.A. the surgeon is essentially, “Removing the tonsils from what we call inside out- from the center of the throat to the side wall. So instead of removing all of the tonsils, about 90 percent are removed, leaving the capsule or outermost layer behind.”
This surgery is considered to be much less painful and easier for children to go through. One surgeon told Fox, “There are lots of benefits to doing a partial. For starters, the nerve endings are not exposed and there’s no damage to the arches of the throat. As a result children experience less pain, a shorter recovery and the chance of bleeding is reduced.”
Studies showed overall that children who under went the surgery using the new technique went back to school sooner, had less bleeding, less dehydration and less pain.
