Adults who get their tonsils taken out have fewer infections over the next 90 days than people who are just watched carefully, according to results of a controlled trial in Finland.

Encyclopedia: All About Tonsils

However, researchers said it is not clear what the long-term effects of the surgery will be or if the benefits outweigh the risks of surgery, including up to two weeks of throat pain.

A group of 70 patients with throat infections was split into two groups, one who had surgery and another that was told to wait.

Of the 36 who had surgery, only one had a recurrence within 90 days. Eight of the 34 people on the wait list got another infection.

Researchers also noted that people with chronic throat infections also improved with watchful waiting, just not as much as those who had surgery.

That uncertainty led a doctor to say in a British Medical Journal editorial that until longer-term studies are available, he would advise patients who have had four episodes of tonsillitis in one year or three in six months that they are likely to have more than two days of sore throat in the next six months if they decide not to have the operation.

If they decide to have the operation, they are likely to have about 13 days of severe pain immediately after surgery, and then on average half a day of sore throat in the next six months.