Tonsillar Surface Micro Flora: Does it Truly Represent Pathological Tonsillar Flora?

To determine the best method of identifying core tonsillar flora.Quasi-experimental study.ENT Department, Combined Military Hospital, Lahore, from September 2013 to October 2015.Eighty-seven patients of recurrent tonsillitis undergoing tonsillectomy were included. All the patients, after being anaesthetised, had surface swabs taken from the tonsillar surface followed by tonsillar aspiration with a 5cc syringe. Following tonsillectomy, the tonsils were sent for culture of core flora. All three specimens from each patient were cultured according to established criteria.The patient population had 33 (37%) female and 54 (62%) male patients. Flora of 12 (13.8%) surface swabs and 68 (78.2%) tonsillar aspirates matched the flora cultured from core of the tonsils. Chi-square test showed this difference to be significant (p-value <0.001).Tonsillar aspiration gave a much more realistic picture of the tonsillar core flora as compared to surface swabs.