Tonsillectomy and immune system

Nora Šiupšinskienė1,2, Vytautas Junčys3, Deimantė Pociūtė4

1The Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences

Department of otorhinolaryngology.

2Klaipeda University Faculty of Health Sciences Department

3Republican Hospital in Klaipeda.

4 Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Medical Academy

ABSTRACT

The article presents a literature review about tonsils function and tonsillectomy (TE) impact to the immune system. Research assess whether TE could be a treatment option for psoriasis or immunoglobulin A nephropathy. In most articles analyzed conclusions were that tonsillectomy did not have a significant effect on immune system, both systemically and locally. When assessing the influence of TE on chronic diseases, authors point out the benefits of surgery, when chronic infection is eliminated. The notion that tonsils are a significant functional unit of the immune system was not substantiated.

Keywords: tonsillectomy, local immune system, immunoglobulin A nephropathy, psoriasis