Tariq Rafi, Umar Farooq, Habib Ur Rehman Sheikh.
Comparative study of management of peritonsillar abscess by needle aspiration versus incision and drainage.
J Surg Pak Jan ;12(3):126-8.

Objective: To compare the results of aspiration versus incision and drainage of quinsy. Study Design: Comparative study. Patients & Methods: A total of 50 patients were selected in the department of ENT Head & Neck Surgery, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi who came mostly in emergency with pain, and trismus. Twenty five of these patients were treated by incision and drainage and 25 patients by needle aspiration and both were put on antibiotics according to the pus culture and sensitivity report. Results: Forty seven patients were male and 3 females. The disease was unilateral in all. The age ranged from 22 years to 43 years with mean age of 27 years. The majority of the patients had complaint of initial sore throat which gradually progressed in a few days with high grade fever, severe odynophagia, dysphagia and trismus to the extent that drooling occurred. Average time taken for the symptoms to reach the peak from onset was 4 days. The 36% of the patients had DNS with nasal obstruction and 42% had a history of post nasal dripping. The hospital stay in patients with needle aspiration ranged from 1-6 days with an average of 3 days. Majority of these patients had to come back for incision and drainage (20 cases), which required further admission and increased the average hospital stay, thus the recovery period was from 6 to 16 days. In comparison the hospital stay with incision and drainage varied from 3 to 7 days and there was no recurrence. Conclusion: Incision and drainage is superior to needle aspiration in patients with quinsy.

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