RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Since focal tonsillar infections are often associated with palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP), provocation tests have been performed for preoperative evaluation of tonsillectomy. However, these tests have not been fully established. OBJECTIVES: To introduce a more sensitive operative indication for tonsillectomy to the patients with PPP, we have monitored the temperature after provocation tests at palmoplantar sites, as measured by thermography, and we hypothesized that this methodology may lead to a more sensitive marker for tonsillectomy. METHODS: Twenty-two PPP patients with/without clinical tonsillitis were included in this study. After mechanical tonsillar massage, using infrared thermography, we have monitored the surface temperature at palmoplantar sites of 22 patients with PPP, five chronic tonsillitis patients without PPP, and four healthy controls, to compare the findings with the skin lesional outcome after tonsillectomy. RESULTS: There was a significant relationship between the effects of tonsillectomy and the results of provocation tests assessed by thermography. The sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency of the provocation tests with thermography of detecting a favorable outcome of tonsillectomy were 75.0, 83.3, and 77.3%, respectively, while those of the provocation tests as estimated with the conventional criteria were 37.5, 83.3, and 50.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that a new indicator using non-invasive thermography for the provocation tests is useful in predicting the effects of tonsillectomy for PPP.