Evaluation of long-term impacts of tonsillectomy on immune functions of children: A follow-up study

SummaryObjectiveThe purpose of this follow-up study was to investigate the long-term effects of tonsillectomy in comparison with their short-term results.Patients and methodsWe successfully retrieved 20 out of our previously reported 37 patients who underwent tonsillectomy in our clinic 54 months ago. The blood levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, CD25+ and CD16++56+ (cellular immunity), and IgG, IgA, IgM, C3 and C4 (humoral immunity) were determined and compared with their previously reported short-term respective values.ResultsThere were no statistically significant differences between the short-term (1 month) and long-term (54 months) values of IgA, IgG, IgM and C4 levels of the patients (P > 0.05). There was a slight but statistically significant decrease in complement factor C3 value compared to its the early-stage value (P < 0.05) but this was not significantly different from age-matched healthy controls (P > 0.05). The levels of CD4+ and CD19+ were higher and the levels of CD16++56+ and CD25+ were lower in the late-stage (54 months) compared to their early-stage values (P < 0.05). When the long-term immune parameters of the tonsillectomized patients were compared with aged-match healthy controls, there were no significant differences between the levels of immunoglobulins, complements and lymphocytes (IgA, IgG, IgM, C3, C4, CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, CD25+, CD16++56+) (P > 0.05).ConclusionThe results of this long-term follow-up study indicate that tonsillectomy do not compromise the immune functions of children as humoral and cellular immunity of patients recovered compared to their early-stage immune status (1 month), as they have similar immune capacity compared to their age-matched healthy controls at both early- and late-stages. Although a small sample of patients enrolled, our results are of importance with respect to the reassuring in settling the widely held urban myth that tonsillectomy compromises life long immunity.