Child Adenoid

DOÇ. DR. OSMAN HALİT ÇAM

ADENOID AND TONSIL DISEASES IN CHILDREN

Adenoid is an immune system tissue similar to the tonsil, which is located behind the soft palate and originates on the surface of the nasal region. Its main characteristics are:

- Adenoids are present at birth.

- They show a significant growth between 3-6 years of age.

- Around the age of 7 they stop growing.

- After the age of 10, it starts to shrink.

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Should the adenoid be removed or not?

When the adenoid becomes too large or inflamed too often, it causes a series of problems. These can be listed as severe nasal congestion, persistent and persistent runny nose, ear problems (fluid accumulation, hearing loss), sleep problems, snoring, dental caries, difficulty swallowing, speech disorder, swelling in the neck, dry lips and mouth, sleep apnoea (breathing stops for a while during sleep).

If these problems seriously tire the child and if the harms outweigh the benefits, the adenoid should be removed. When deciding on the operation, the balance of benefit and harm is considered.

Tonsils

Tonsils (tonsils) consist of two lymphatic tissues located on both sides of the root of the tongue in the throat. They are part of the immune system and stimulate the immune system and provide the first response to germs taken by mouth.

WHEN IS SURGICAL INTERVENTION REQUIRED?

There are two basic criteria for surgical intervention to the tonsils. These can be separate criteria or their presence alone is sufficient for surgical intervention. These are

Tonsils may become large enough to affect breathing and nutrition and may mimic adenoid symptoms. In this case, the tonsils should be intervened together with the adenoid in order to continue the healthy development of the child and to prevent apnoea.

If the tonsils are extremely large, it may be a surgical option to reduce the tonsils instead of removing them.

Another condition that requires removal of tonsils is recurrent throat infections. In case of frequent recurrent tonsil infections (4 infections in a year or 7 infections in two years), the size of the tonsils is of no importance and they should be removed even if the tonsils are small.

WHY SURGERY

When deciding on the operation, of course, the balance of benefit and harm is taken into consideration. For this reason, if the operation is on the agenda, it means that the harms have started to overshadow the benefits.

Removal of tonsils in the presence of chronic infection will prevent the child from frequent tonsil infections and reduce the complications of infections (convulsions, acute rheumatic fever, acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis). It will also reduce the continuous use of medication due to these infections.

All children who will undergo tonsillectomy should be evaluated for adenoids before or during the operation, but the opposite is not always true.