Tonsilectomy in sickle cell diseases.

BACKGROUND: We tried to understand whether or not there are lowered prevalences of terminal consequences of sickle cell diseases (SCDs) with tonsilectomy.

METHODS: All cases with SCDs were taken into the study.

RESULTS: The study included 334 patients (164 females). There were 27 cases with tonsilectomy and 307 cases without. The mean ages, female ratios, and prevalences of associated thalassemia minors and smoking were similar in both groups (P>0.05 for all). Although the white blood cell and platelet counts of peripheric blood were higher in patients without tonsilectomy, the mean hematocrit value was lower in them, but the differences were nonsignificant probably due to the small sample size of the tonsilectomy group (P>0.05 for all). Similarly, although the painful crises per year, digital clubbing, leg ulcers, pulmonary hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, rheumatic heart disease, avascular necrosis of bone, cirrhosis, stroke, and mortality were higher in cases without tonsilectomy, the differences were nonsignificant probably due to the same reason again (P>0.05 for all).

CONCLUSION: There may be an inverse relationship between prevalence of tonsilectomy and severity of SCDs, and the tonsils may act as chronic inflammatory foci accelerating the chronic endothelial damage all over the body in such patients.