Tonsillectomy in Spanish

What it means

Tonsillectomy is a surgery to remove the tonsils, which are glands at the back of the throat. The tonsils are often removed along with the adenoid glands; that surgery is called adenoidectomy and is most often done in children. A tonsillectomy is done under general anesthesia, most often in a hospital or surgery center, and the child goes home the same day as the surgery. A health care provider may consider it when a child has infections often, or has trouble breathing and does not sleep well because the tonsils block the airway. Complete recovery takes about 1 to 2 weeks. MedlinePlus names bleeding and infection as the risks for any surgery.

Spanish term: Amigdalectomía
Gender and article: feminine: la amigdalectomía
Pronunciation: ah-meeg-dah-lehk-toh-MEE-ah

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
extirpación de las amígdalas	General	Listed by MedlinePlus en español among the alternative names of amigdalectomía.

Amigdalectomía is the title of the MedlinePlus en español article on this surgery. The MedlinePlus en español page on tonsillitis defines it as the surgery to remove the tonsils and uses it with the feminine article: una amigdalectomía. Spanish calls the tonsils amígdalas, so the Spanish term does not look like the English one. The Real Academia Española dictionary records amígdala as a feminine anatomy term and gives tonsila as a synonym.

The encyclopedia article lists extirpación de las amígdalas (removal of the tonsils) among its alternative names. Related words on these pages are adenoidectomía (the surgery in which the adenoids are removed), anestesia general (general anesthesia), sala de recuperación (recovery room), sangrado (bleeding) and apnea del sueño (sleep apnea). The related condition, inflammation of the tonsils, is amigdalitis.

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Patient	My son gets throat infections many times a year.	Mi hijo tiene infecciones de garganta muchas veces al año.
Clinician	Does he snore or have trouble breathing when he sleeps?	¿Ronca o tiene problemas para respirar cuando duerme?
Clinician	We can talk about a tonsillectomy, a surgery to remove the tonsils.	Podemos hablar de una amigdalectomía, una cirugía para extraer las amígdalas.
Patient	Will he be asleep during the surgery?	¿Va a estar dormido durante la cirugía?
Clinician	Yes, the surgery is done under general anesthesia.	Sí, la cirugía se hace con anestesia general.
Patient	Will he go home the same day?	¿Se irá a casa el mismo día?
Clinician	Please tell me about all the medicines he takes, including the ones bought without a prescription.	Por favor, dígame todos los medicamentos que toma, incluidos los que se compraron sin receta.
Patient	How long does it take to recover completely?	¿Cuánto tarda la recuperación completa?

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Tonsillectomy
Spanish (Español)	Amigdalectomía
Chinese (中文)	扁桃體切除術
Korean (한국어)	편도절제술
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Phẫu thuật cắt amidan
Filipino (Tagalog)	Tonsillectomy
Portuguese (Português)	Amigdalectomia
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	การผ่าตัดทอนซิล
Japanese (日本語)	扁桃摘出術

Where you'll see it

operative reportsurgical consent formEOBbilldischarge summary

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Blood and immune system

All terms in this area: Blood and immune system — Sangre y sistema inmunitario

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.