Some parents ask their children to have their tonsils surgically removed because they have frequent tonsillitis, but doctors generally consider this carefully. Why can’t tonsils just be removed?
The tonsils are the largest lymphatic tissue in the pharynx. During childhood, it is an active immune organ, containing lymphocytes at all stages of development, such as T cells, B cells, and phagocytes. Therefore, it has both a humoral immune role, producing various immunoglobulins, and a certain cellular immune role. The immunoglobulin IgA produced by the tonsils is highly immunogenic, inhibiting bacterial adhesion to the respiratory mucosa and inhibiting the growth and spread of bacteria, as well as neutralizing and inhibiting viruses. IgA also enhances the function of phagocytes through the activation of complement.
From an immune point of view, tonsils should not be removed casually because of their immune effect on the body. Enlarged tonsils in children are a normal physiological phenomenon and should not be removed if they are enlarged but do not affect breathing and swallowing and do not produce more severe clinical manifestations. This is because the removal may affect the local immune response and reduce the body’s ability to fight infection.
Tonsillitis should be removed promptly if it is recurrent, interferes with breathing and swallowing, and causes diseases such as rheumatism and nephritis. Generally, tonsillectomy in children should be performed after the age of four, and it is appropriate to remove them two to three weeks after the inflammation has subsided. However, if the attacks are too frequent and cannot wait for a long time, surgery can be considered a few days after the attacks subside.