Forty-five patients with peritonsillar abscesses(PA) were treated by needle aspiration. Pus was drawn in 89%(40/45) of the cases at the first aspiration and repeated aspiration was necessary in 33%(15/45) of the patients. All of the patients were cured by needle aspiration without further invasive therapy and no serious complication was observed. 32 out of 45 patients were available for follow-up. Among them

three had another recurrent PA in situ and the other ten(31%) had recurrent tonsillitis. However

analysis showed that the patients under 35 years of age had higher recurreuce rate of PA of recurrent tonsillitis than those over 35 years old(P<0. 01)

and that 77% of the patients with recurrent symptoms had past history of tonsillar diseases.These data indicated that needle aspiration is a simple and effective treatment for PA

and that preventive tonsillectomy should be performed on those patients under 35 years of age and with the history of recurrent and previous tonsillar diseases