Fine-needle aspiration as a diagnostic tool for recurrent tonsillitis

A comparison of tonsillar surface swabbing, fine-needle aspiration core sampling, and dissected tonsillar core biopsy culture in children with recurrent tonsillitis

In recurrent tonsillitis, the pathogenic bacteria are harbored in the tonsil core, and therefore cultures of superficial swab samples are not particularly accurate in identifying specific types of core bacteria. On the other hand, the results of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cultures of core samples have been closely correlated with the findings of core cultures in excised tonsils, and both methods are far superior to surface swabbing. We conducted a prospective study to compare the accuracy of culture findings from tonsillar tissue obtained by surface swabbing, FNA sampling of the tonsil core in situ, and core sampling of the excised tonsil in children with recurrent tonsillitis. Our patient population was made up of 54 children-22 boys and 32 girls, aged 4 to 14 years (mean: 10.7)-who were undergoing elective tonsillectomy during a 1-year period. On the day of surgery, a surface swab, core FNA sample, and dissected core sample were obtained from each patient and sent for culture. Culture showed that the three methods were in agreement in 34 cases (63.0%). In 9 cases (16.7%) the surface swab culture grew different pathogens from those of the two core cultures, and in 3 other cases (5.6%) the surface swab culture was negative while the two core cultures were positive for the same pathogens. In all, the results of core FNA culture and dissected core culture were in agreement in 46 cases (85.2%); in only 4 cases (7.4%) did the core FNA culture fail to accurately identify the causative pathogens. Overall, the sensitivity and specificity of core FNA sampling were 100 and 50% respectively, compared with 82.9 and 30.8% for the superficial tonsillar swab. We conclude that routine culture of surface swab specimens in patients with chronic or recurrent tonsillitis is neither reliable nor valid. We recommend that core FNA sampling be considered the diagnostic method of choice since it can be done on an outpatient basis, it would reliably allow for culture-directed antibiotic therapy, and it could obviate the need for elective tonsillectomy in many cases. However, its feasibility as an office procedure in children remains to be determined.

Inside-Out Complete Tonsillectomy: Extended Intracapsular Tonsillectomy for Severe Sore Throat

Objectives:

This consecutive case series is presented to describe inside-out complete tonsillectomy and to assess its effects on postoperative pain and bleeding and its initial effectiveness in controlling recurrent sore throat and peritonsillar abscess formation.

Methods:

Bipolar electrosurgical scissors are used for bloodless resection of 90% of the tonsillar mass. During controlled resection, tonsil tissue is intentionally left at the superior and inferior poles and at the deepest part of the tonsillar fossa to provide coverage for nutrient arteries and the tonsillar plexus of veins. This tissue is then electrodesiccated and removed under direct vision and indirect mirror guidance to achieve complete tonsillectomy.

Results:

One hundred eighty-three consecutive tonsillectomies were performed by a single surgeon in a 16-month period, 47 of which were for the indication of recurrent sore throat (44) or recurrent peritonsillar abscess (3). Among these 47 children, there were 2 readmissions for dehydration. There were no immediate or delayed bleeding episodes. The average child required 4 days of narcotic pain medication. The mean annualized number of severe sore throats decreased from 5.24 before operation to 0.36 after operation (p <.0001, Student's paired t-test). There were no recurrent peritonsillar abscesses.

Conclusions:

Inside-out complete tonsillectomy achieves the surgical goal of complete tonsillectomy with the smallest possible wound and minimal injury to the surrounding tissue. The perioperative morbidity is markedly decreased compared to that of historical controls. The initial results suggest effectiveness similar to that of extracapsular tonsillectomy.

Intracellular persisting Staphylococcus aureus is the major pathogen in recurrent tonsillitis

Background

The two major indications for tonsillectomy are recurrent tonsillitis (RT) and peritonsillar abscess (PTA). Unlike PTAs, which are primarily treated surgically, RT is often cured by tonsillectomy only after a series of failed drug therapy attempts. Although the bacteriological background of RT has been studied, the reason for the lack of success of conservative therapeutic approaches is not well understood.

Methods

In a prospective study, tonsil specimens from 130 RT patients and 124 PTA patients were examined for the presence of extra- and intracellular bacteria using antibiotic protection assays. Staphylococcus aureus isolates from RT patients were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), spa-typing and MSCRAMM-gene-PCR. Their ability for biofilm formation was tested and their cell invasiveness was confirmed by a flow cytometric invasion assay (FACS), fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry.

Findings

S. aureus was the predominant species (57.7%) in RT patients, whereas Streptococcus pyogenes was most prevalent (20.2%) in PTA patients. Three different assays (FACS, FISH, antibiotic protection assay) showed that nearly all RT-associated S. aureus strains were located inside tonsillar cells. Correspondingly, the results of the MSCRAMM-gene-PCRs confirmed that 87% of these S. aureus isolates were invasive strains and not mere colonizers. Based upon PFGE analyses of genomic DNA and on spa-gene typing the vast majority of the S. aureus isolates belonged to different clonal lineages.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that intracellular residing S. aureus is the most common cause of RT and indicate that S. aureus uses this location to survive the effects of antibiotics and the host immune response. A German translation of the Abstract is provided as supplementary material (Abstract S1).

[Bacterial flora of the tonsillar surface versus tonsillar core in chronic tonsillitis]

The purpose of the work was to present the frequency of isolation of particular bacterial species from smear samples obtained from the surface of the palatal tonsils and from aspirates of tonsillar core. The material involved 100 patients, 49 women and 51 men among them, who were qualified to tonsillectomy based on their history, otolaryngological examination and selected laboratory parameters and in whom bacteriological examination of smears taken from the right and left palatal tonsil were performed. The material obtained from superficial tonsillar smears and from tonsillar core aspirates was subject to bacteriological analysis. Frequency of isolation of particular bacterial species was performed. Higher detectability of beta-haemolytic streptococci was found in tonsillar core aspirates, as compared to superficial smears. Bacteriological analysis of palatal tonsil core aspirate was shown to be a good method of isolation of pathogenic microbial strains.

Diagnostic fine-needle aspiration in postoperative wound infections is more accurate at predicting causative organisms than wound swabs

INTRODUCTION

Postoperative wound infections are common. Antibiotics are often prescribed empirically, usually in the absence of any microbiological sensitivity data. This study demonstrates the role of fine-needle aspiration microbiology (FNAM) in determining the causative organisms in these wounds compared to wound swabs taken from the same patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A total of 20 patients with clinical signs of soft tissue infection were tested using wound swabs and fine-needle aspiration.

RESULTS

Six of the wound swabs yielded a single organism but 16 out 20 of the FNAM group yielded a single organism (P = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

The FNAM approach allows antibiotic sensitivities to be obtained enabling specific antimicrobial therapy to be implemented early. FNAM also has a higher yield of cultures than wound swabs. Cellulitic areas can be sampled even when use of wound swabs is not possible.