A Case of Idiopathic Spontaneous Tonsillar Hemorrhage / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

Spontaneous tonsillar hemorrhage (STH) is an extremely rare event. Usually, the causes of STH are ascribed to vessel wall erosion secondary to bacterial or viral infection of tonsils. Other causes include vascular or tumorous lesions around tonsil, coagulation disorders and idiopathic one. On one hand, the total number of reported STH has slightly increased because STH is defined as all forms of "bleeding tonsils", including even minor bleeding. On the other hand, the portion of the total STH that is life-threatening has become relatively few. Management of STH involves the use of antibiotics, and early tonsillectomy is recommended. We have experienced a case of a 29 year-old female with tonsillar hemorrhage in the absence of any identifiable cause. We report the case with a review of the related literatures.