Objective: To quantify that the use of powered instrumentation for adenoidectomy is an improvement over traditional techniques.
Design: Retrospective case series of 40 consecutive children undergoing power-assisted adenoidectomy compared with 40 consecutive children undergoing conventional transoral adenoidectomy with a curet.
Settings: Tertiary care center.
Main outcome measures: Operative time, blood loss, length of hospitalization, and complications.
Results: With power-assisted adenoidectomy, the mean operative time was significantly faster (11 minutes vs 19 minutes for the conventional method), mean blood loss was not significantly different (22 mL vs 32 mL for the conventional method), mean length of hospitalization after the procedure was not significantly different (2.95 hours vs 2.8 hours for the conventional method), and there were no surgical complications with either technique.
Conclusion: In comparison with conventional techniques, power-assisted adenoidectomy provides significant advantages that are subjectively apparent but can also be objectively measured.