Postoperative Oral Corticosteroids Following Tonsillectomy
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2019-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures in the United States, and
post-operative pain management is a challenge for otolaryngologists. A 2013 black-box warning
on codeine following tonsillectomy has drawn attention to potential concerns with all
narcotics in these patients, and many surgeons try to avoid narcotics. The use of
intra-operative corticosteroids has been proven to be beneficial in reducing post-operative
morbidity, and some small studies have shown possible benefit to the use of post-operative
oral corticosteroids as well, although the results of these studies are mixed. To date, no
one has looked at whether the use of post-operative oral steroids may reduce or eliminate the
need for narcotics. We aim to determine whether the addition of oral steroids to our
post-operative pain regimen can reduce the need for narcotic pain medications.