TOWSON, Md. -- Recovering from tonsil surgery often leaves patients with severe pain. But a new surgery is getting much fewer complaints.
Alex Frasier, 11, had his tonsils removed Tuesday at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, Md. His younger brother, William, had his removed last year, reported WBAL-TV in Baltimore.
"It gets me frustrated because I can't do as much as if I could with them out, or if I didn't have a sore throat," Alex said.
William underwent a new tonsillectomy procedure that, unlike the traditional surgery, returned him to normal in no time.
"He had less pain with the surgery than he probably did with the strep throat and dealing all that," said the boys' mother, Brigitte. "The next day, he was up and running again, so it wasn't bad at all."
Greater Baltimore Medical Center has performed the tonsillectomies in the last year using a coblation wand, which was originally designed for orthopedic joint surgery. The wand uses radiofrequency waves, instead of cautery (heat) techniques, to remove tonsils and adenoids.
"The traditional way of going it, children would have a very severe sore throat for about a week or 10 days. But with the coblation technique, it's much less painful," said Dr. Karl Diehn, an otolaryngologist at the hospital.
The result: less thermal damage and injury to the tissue, and less pain.
"After talking to patients about this, we took a tonsil out on one side the traditional way, and we used the coblation technique on the other, and the majority of patients had less pain on the coblation side," Diehn said.
Doctors said the results have been consistent in more than 200 adults and children who have had the coblation surgery at the hospital.
"From the recovery nurses, they say there's a noticeable difference," Diehn said. "(They said the patients) wake up with less pain and the patients recover more quickly."
Diehn said he has received letters from patients and hopes Alex will have a good experience like his brother.
"It makes me feel great, we're helping people," Diehn said.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Video: 
Survey: 
