Article Published In Vol.6 (Nov-Dec-2018)

The use of coffee powder as haemostatic agent in tonsillectomy-A pilot study

Author : Sajjad Halbos Mohamed Al-Mansori

Background: Tonsillectomy is the commonest surgical procedure performed in otolaryngology, haemorrhage is one of the most important complications encountered in this method. There are many surgical techniques tried since tonsillectomy first performed by Celsius nearly before 2000 years, but still the dissection method is the most common used technique. This is a prospective study performed in AL-Sadr Teaching hospital in which 100 patients admitted for tonsillectomy with different indications.
Patient and Method: One handred patients admitted for tonsillectomy for whom coffee powder covered by gauze applied to one tonsillar fossa while the other side packed with gauze soaked with normal saline after tonsil dissection then we observed the haemostatic effect of coffee and the possible need for other technique to control bleeding in both tonsillar fossae.
Results: this study showed 92% of patients in the coffee side got complete haemostasis by the application of coffee alone whlile 87% needs ligatures ranging from one to three for the non coffee side.
Conclusion: The local application of coffee as topical haemostatic agent during tonsillectomy is effective in reducing intra operative and postoperative haemorrhage and significantly reduced the need for ligation and thus decrease the time of surgery and time of exposure to anasthesia in addition to its antimicrobial and antioxidant effect.

Keywords: Coffee powder, Haemostatic agent etc.