A prospective study of anaesthesia for quinsy tonsillectomy.

A prospective study of 50 adult quinsy tonsillectomy anaesthetics was performed. There were no significant anaesthetic or surgical complications and the mean intra-operative blood loss was 176 ml. The Mallampati score did not correlate with the Cormack and Lehane glottic view and there were no difficult intubations. Pre-operative trismus resolved completely during induction in 77.4% of cases. We concluded that the Mallampati grading system is not applicable in quinsies and in cases with palatopharyngeal arch distortion, that trismus in quinsies is due to muscle spasm and resolves completely during induction in most cases and that pre-anaesthetic drainage of the abscess together with rehydration and antibiotics are important contributing factors to safe anaesthesia for quinsy.