Study Separates Fact from Fiction in Cases of Delayed Bleeding After Tonsillectomy

Newswise — Despite years of scientific training, surgeons are not immune to the power of superstition when it comes to explaining the inexplicable. Such is the case with delayed bleeding after tonsillectomy, a complication that still occurs despite all efforts to the contrary. A popular belief is that this complication occurs more frequently on Friday the 13th.

Curious about the persistence of this and other magical beliefs among his colleagues in the medical profession, Glenn Isaacson, MD, professor and chair of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, Temple University School of Medicine, applied science to superstition in an effort to test their validity. Isaacson is a pediatric otolaryngologist at Temple University Children's Medical Center

As he suspected, Isaacson found that delayed bleeding after tonsillectomy does not occur more frequently on Friday the 13th, in red-headed children, in clusters of three or during a full moon, as many falsely believe. He recently presented his findings at the Eastern Sectional Meeting of the Society of Laryngology, Otology and Rhinology.

Thanks to medical and surgical advances, bleeding is no longer a common occurrence right after tonsillectomy, the most common major operation performed in children. Delayed bleeding, however, occurring seven to ten days after surgery, continues to occur and to frustrate otolaryngologists. In fact, up to five percent of tonsillectomy patients experience bleeding so serious they need to return to the hospital and sometimes undergo further surgery.

Isaacson and his colleagues studied 569 tonsillectomies over a two-and-a-half year period according to dates, lunar cycle, occurrence in a cluster, and incidence of red hair. They confirmed through statistical analysis that all cases of delayed bleeding occurred randomly.

"Surgeons are human beings too. But it is important for us to fight the urge to give into superstition, and always look for the truth," said Isaacson.

A photo of Dr. Isaacson is available online at: http://mdev.temple.edu/photoarchive/photoinfo.asp?pid=504