Effect of adjuvant enoral application of honey on postoperative pain after tonsillectomy

Introduction Pain after tonsillectomy (TE) is an unsolved problem in the otorhinolaryngology despite different therapeutic approaches. The effect of a two-hour oral application of honey (8 times daily, 20 g each) on postoperative pain was assessed on the first five days after TE with the outcome-oriented benchmark project QUIPS (quality improvement in postoperative pain therapy).

Material / Methods Between December 2015 and March 2017 the data of the honey group and between February and November 2013 the data of the control group were collected.

Results The pain in activity in the control group was above NRS 4 all five days, with a renewed increase in pain intensity on the fifth day. The pain in activity of the honey group was higher than 4 until the third day and then decreased without further increase. With regard to the pain-associated impairments, the night pain in the honey group showed a significant improvement on the first day (p = 0.026) and significantly fewer postoperative haemorrhages (p = 0.028) compared to the control group. Patients in the control group were at higher risk of higher minimal pain on the first and fifth postoperative days (odds ratio = -2.424, 95 % confidence interval = -4.075 to -0.385).

Conclusion There was a trend of reduced postoperative pain after oral honey application. Honey also seems to reduce pain-related impairments. A larger controlled trial is now needed to varify the effect of honey on pain after tonsillectomy.

Poster-PDF A-1087.PDF

Publication History

Article published online:
10 June 2020