A measurement of the incisor to inferior tonsil pole distance
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to measure the anatomical distance from the incisor teeth to the inferior tonsillar pole
IRAS ID
192546
Contact name
Madhan MI Street
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The National Prospective Tonsillectomy Audit in 2004 recommended that trainee ENT surgeons should develop expertise with using cold dissection techniques to perform tonsillectomies.
Part of this technique includes tying ligatures to stem bleeding at the lower end of the tonsils ('the inferior pole') when performing tonsillectomies.
This is a difficult skill to learn and a number of tonsillectomy tie simulators have been designed and published.
However, it is not known if the dimensions of these simulators are accurate. The distance of the incisor teeth to the lower tonsil pole is not known; it would be useful to measure this to enable more accurate tonsillectomy tie simulators to be designed.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0864
Date of REC Opinion
21 May 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion