Adenoidectomy Surgery - Removal Of Adenoids - ENT Consultant London - ENT Surgeon London

Removal of adenoids is one of the most common operations done in children. Adenoids are like tonsils at the back of the nose. Adenoid enlargement in children can cause nasal obstruction, breath holding spells and can also contribute to glue ear. This video shows adenoids being removed under direct vision using the suction diathermy technique.


Adenoid Surgery


What Are The Adenoids?

Adenoids are small glands in the throat, at the back of the nose. In younger children they are there to fight germs. We believe that after the age of about three years, the adenoids are no longer needed.

Do We Need Our Adenoids?

Your body can still fight germs without your adenoids. They probably only act to help fight infection during the first three years of life; after then, we only take them out if they are doing more harm than good.

Why do adenoids cause problems?

Sometimes children have adenoids so big that they have a blocked nose, so that they have to breathe through their mouths.

They snore at night.

Some children even stop breathing for a few seconds while they are asleep. The adenoids can also cause ear problems by preventing the tube which joins your nose to your ear, from working properly.

Some benefits of removing adenoids

For children with glue ear

For children over three years of age, removing the adenoid at the same time as putting grommets in the ears, seems to help stop the glue ear coming back.

Reduces Colds

Removing the adenoid may reduce the problem of a blocked nose when your child has a cold

Is there an age limit for adenoidectomy?

Adenoidectomy is generally avoided in children under 15kg weight, approximately three years of age, because of the small risk of blood loss during or after the operation. There is no upper age limit, but the adenoid has usually shrunk to almost nothing by the teens.

How are the adenoids removed in the 21st century?

The traditional technique is to use a curette, which is a special type of surgical cutting device. This is a safe technique, although a consideration for small children having the operation is that the blood loss may be higher at the time of surgery.

Other techniques are becoming more popular.

Electric diathermy and Coblation dissection have the advantage of less blood loss at the time of surgery.

The laser has fallen out of favour because of the much higher levels of pain after the operation.

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