**11. Advantages and disadvantages of the techniques**

There is great debate about the relative merits of the various tonsillectomy techniques published in many studies, with many more ongoing that compare the techniques. The existing literature consistently reports that the intracapsular (partial) techniques result in less postoperative pain, however, the degree of lessened pain continues to be much debated.19,20,21In addition; there is a small risk of tonsil regrowth and the necessity for an additional procedure with the intracapsular techniques. Of the extracapsular techniques, "cold" tonsillectomy results in less postoperative pain compared with an electrocautery or "hot" tonsillectomy; however, the latter procedure is typically faster and has less intraoperative blood loss.22,23,24 Although not extensively researched thus far, a total tonsillectomy with the coblation unit may have slight advantages over electrocautery tonsillectomy.25 The studies on outcomes of surgeries completed with the harmonic scalpel do not show any denitive advantage to the scalpel.26,27 It is not clear which technique, if there is one, results in the lowest rate of postoperative hemorrhage.28,29

Most of the data available to date suggest that there is no difference in the bleeding rates between extracapsular and intracapsular tonsillectomy.30The equipment involved with various techniques varies in price, although the largest cost factor in any tonsillectomy is the operating time.
