Tonsillitis - Symptoms, Causes, Images, and Treatment Options

Diseases

Highlights & Basics

Key Highlights

Tonsillitis can be difficult to distinguish from viral pharyngitis as both present with similar clinical symptoms.
Most patients do not seek medical help.
Most cases resolve spontaneously within a few days and do not require antibiotics, although analgesia is recommended for symptom relief. Antibiotics are used to treat group A streptococcal infection that make up between 5% to 15% of cases of pharyngitis in adults and 15% to 30% of cases in children.
There is some evidence that tonsillectomy may be effective in selected children with recurrent severe acute tonsillitis.

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History & Exam
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Definition

Epidemiology

Etiology

Pathophysiology

Images

Tonsillitis caused by group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus
Right-sided peritonsillar abscess

Citations

Key Articles

Shaikh N, Swaminathan N, Hooper EG, et al. Accuracy and precision of the signs and symptoms of streptococcal pharyngitis in children: a systematic review. J Pediatr. 2012 Mar;160(3):487-93.[Abstract]
Aalbers J, O'Brien KK, Chan WS, et al. Predicting streptococcal pharyngitis in adults in primary care: a systematic review of the diagnostic accuracy of symptoms and signs and validation of the Centor score. BMC Med. 2011 Jun 1;9:67.[Abstract][Full Text]
Spinks A, Glasziou PP, Del Mar CB. Antibiotics for sore throat. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;(11):CD000023.[Abstract][Full Text]
Shulman ST, Bisno AL, Clegg HW, et al. Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and management of group A streptococcal pharyngitis: 2012 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis. 2012 Nov 15;55(10):e86-102.[Abstract][Full Text]
de Cassan S, Thompson MJ, Perera R, et al. Corticosteroids as standalone or add-on treatment for sore throat. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 May 1;5(5):CD008268.[Abstract][Full Text]
Burton MJ, Glasziou PP, Chong LY, et al. Tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy versus non-surgical treatment for chronic/recurrent acute tonsillitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Nov 19;(11):CD001802.[Abstract][Full Text]
Windfuhr JP, Toepfner N, Steffen G, et al. Clinical practice guideline: tonsillitis II. Surgical management. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2016 Apr;273(4):989-1009.[Abstract]

Referenced Articles

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