Value of tonsillectomy questioned
The operation leads to a decline in secretory poliovirus antibody levels says a pediatrician who recommends fewer tonsillectomies in children Physicians should think twice about tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in young children because the operation leads to a decline in secretory poliovirus antibody levels, says a pediatrician from Buffalo, NY.
"I would be very careful about doing tonsillectomies in children under eight years of age," Pearay L. Ogra, MD, said in an interview in Atlantic City, NJ, where he gave a report to the American Pediatric Society meeting.
"The operation reduces the antibody content of the nasopharynx and this allows the virus to multiply. It has been shown that poliovirus can pass directly from the nasopharynx to the brain and this may be true of other neurotropic viruses."
Dr. Ogra is director of the Division of Virology at Buffalo Children's Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at
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