Understanding link may help doctors better counsel patients before operations
Jump to full article: HealthDay [HealthScout], 2008-08-22
Intro: Patients who smoke are more likely to develop bleeding after throat surgery, a U.S. study finds.
This increased risk was noted in patients who had uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) -- a procedure in which excess tissue is removed from the throat -- with tonsillectomy, but not in patients who had tonsillectomy alone.
The study authors analyzed post-operative bleeding rates among more than 1,000 tonsillectomy patients between 2000 and 2005. The overall rate of bleeding was 6.7 percent, but that number was 10.2 percent for smokers and 5.4 percent for nonsmokers.
The large difference between the two groups was due to the high rate of post-operative bleeding among smokers who underwent UPPP -- 10.9 percent vs. 3.3 percent in nonsmokers.
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