What does adenoidectomy mean?
An adenoidectomy is a surgical procedure in which the adenoids — small pads of lymphoid tissue located behind the nasal cavity, above the tonsils — are removed. The operation is performed almost exclusively on children, because the adenoids are most active in early childhood and naturally shrink with age. Surgeons typically recommend an adenoidectomy when enlarged or chronically infected adenoids cause breathing difficulty, persistent mouth breathing, snoring or sleep apnoea, or recurrent middle-ear infections. It is frequently carried out alongside a tonsillectomy, since the two tissues are neighbours and often troublesome together. The word derives from Greek roots meaning 'gland' and 'cutting out', and it belongs to the same family of surgical terms as appendectomy and hysterectomy. Though routine and generally safe, it remains a genuine operation requiring general anaesthesia, and parents weighing it up for a child will encounter the term repeatedly in consultations with ear, nose, and throat specialists.
nounA surgical operation to remove the adenoids, typically performed in children to relieve nasal obstruction, mouth breathing, or recurrent ear and sinus infections.
- Surgical removal of the adenoids.
"The ENT surgeon recommended an adenoidectomy after the boy's persistent ear infections failed to respond to antibiotics."
"After months of snoring and mouth breathing, the five-year-old underwent an adenoidectomy."
"Adenoidectomy is often combined with tonsillectomy in a single operation under general anaesthesia."
Used mainly in statistical or clinical contexts discussing multiple procedures.
"Paediatric adenoidectomies are among the most common operations performed on young children."
The adenoids usually shrink away on their own by adulthood — so an adenoidectomy is almost always a childhood surgery, done on tissue that was destined to disappear anyway.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of adenoidectomy
Adenoidectomy combines three Greek-derived elements: 'adēn' meaning gland (via 'adenoid', coined in the 19th century to describe the gland-like adenoid tissue), and '-ectomy' from 'ektomē', meaning excision or cutting out. The suffix '-ectomy' became productive in medical English during the 19th century as surgery modernized, yielding parallel terms such as appendectomy and tonsillectomy. Its cognates include other 'adēn' words like adenoma and adenovirus, and other '-ectomy' operations like anatomy's sibling terms of surgical removal.
Related word forms
How adenoidectomy is actually used
A formal medical term used mainly in clinical and surgical contexts; lay speakers more often say 'having the adenoids removed'. It refers specifically to the adenoids, not the tonsils.
Easily confused with adenoidectomy
A tonsillectomy removes the tonsils, whereas an adenoidectomy removes the adenoids; the two operations are often performed together.
Adenoiditis is inflammation of the adenoids, a condition that may lead to an adenoidectomy rather than being one itself.