The use of ice‐lollies for pain relief post‐paediatric tonsillectomy. A single‐blinded, randomised, controlled trial

To assess whether the use of ice-lollies after tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy in children aged 2-12 reduces pain in the immediate postoperative period.A prospective, randomised, single-blinded study design consisting of two groups with an intention to treat analysis.Tertiary referral centre.Children aged 2-12 undergoing tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy.Pain assessment by nursing staff in the form of the validated modified Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale at 15, 30 and 60 min and 4 h.Ninety-two patients were recruited into the study with 46 allocated to receive an ice-lolly and 41 not to receive an ice-lolly after exclusion of those with incomplete data. The two groups were comparable for number, age, sex and diagnosis. The pain score at every time interval was lower in the group that had received the ice-lolly compared with the group that had not. This was statistically significant at 30 (P = 0.008) and 60 min (P = 0.049).Our data suggest that ice-lollies are a cheap, effective and safe method of reducing postoperative pain up to one hour following paediatric tonsillectomy.