Pediatric patients who are undergoing a tonsillectomy at the Children's hospital will be
randomly assigned to one of three drug groups: 1) acetaminophen (Tylenol) administered
pre-operatively and a low dose of anti-inflammatory drug (dexamethasone) administered
intra-operatively; 2) acetaminophen (Tylenol) administered pre-operatively and a high dose of
anti-inflammatory drug (dexamethasone) administered intra-operatively; 3) no acetaminophen
(Tylenol) administered pre-operatively, low dose anti-inflammatory (dexamethasone)
administered intra-operatively. The present study will evaluate differences in pain
management and surgical complications across the three groups of drug regimens. Main study
outcomes include: pain medication administration during surgery, use of pain killers at
1-week post-operation, subjective pain scores administered in the post-anesthesia care unit
(PACU) and 1 week postoperation, fluid and food intake, and complication rates (i.e.
postoperative bleed rate). The hypothesis is that pain will be lowest in the group that
received Tylenol and high-dose dexamethasone (Group 2).