Kronik Adenoidit ve Tonsilit ile Adenoid ve Tonsil Hipertrofisinde Apoptozun Rolü
Abstract
Waldeyer ring, forming the mucosal lymphoid tissue, is the first line of defense to the microorganisms in the respiratory tract. These microorganisms cause recurrent infections of the lymphoid tissue. Chronic tonsillitis and adenoiditis is the persistent inflammation of the tissue that occurs due to recurrent, acute or subclinical infection. The recurrent and chronic inflammation of adenoid and palatine tonsils sometimes results in hypertrophy. Apoptosis provides an important balance between lymphocytes in lymphoid tissue. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of adenotonsillar diseases. 46 patients who had chronic adenoiditis and adenoid hypertrophy underwent adenoidectomy and 43 patients with chronic tonsilitis and tonsillar hypertrophy underwent tonsillectomy. The specimens were examined immunohistochemically. Adenoids and tonsils were evaluated for apoptosis and assembled into groups according to their size. Apoptotic cells were counted in 3 different microscopic fields and their average was taken for every microcompartment. As a result of immunohistochemical staining, specimens were compared for their apoptotic cell rate. The difference between adenoidectomy groups is statistically significant (p<0.05), however the difference between the tonsillectomy groups is not statistically significant (p>0.05). In the light of these findings, it was concluded that apoptosis played role in the pathogenesis of adenoid diseases, and that apoptosis appeared to have no effect on the pathogenesis of tonsillar hypertrophy and atrophy.