tonsillotomy

9.1

An operation that removes part of the small soft parts at the back of the throat

noun
/tɑnˈsɪləˌtɑmi/

Specialized

: tonsilotomía

The doctor performed a tonsillotomy to remove the enlarged part of the patient's tonsil.

Examples

Subtotal tonsillectomy (what Linder et al. (n10) called tonsillotomy) has been touted as an effective means of reducing tonsillar tissue while causing less postoperative pain.

Academic text (2004)
Dr. Robert Myles of New York, discussing Robertson's findings, said, "It would seem that an operation like tonsillotomy should have been more or less perfected before now, but my opinion is that it is in its infancy."

Academic text (2008)
After her tonsillotomy, she found it easier to breathe and swallow.
The tonsillotomy was recommended since traditional tonsillectomy was too invasive for the child's condition.

Surface Forms

tonsillotomy singular

tonsillotomies plural

Morphology

tonsillotomy = tonsil (semi-transparent) = tonsil + otomy

The relation to 'tonsil' is clear, but the suffix '-otomy' is specialized medical morphology and the precise procedural distinction (partial vs full removal) is domain-specific.

Etymology

Tonsillotomy is made of tonsil, the small gland at the back of the throat, and -otomy, a medical ending that means 'cutting into' and that you can see in lobotomy. So a tonsillotomy is the operation that cuts into or removes only part of a tonsil, not the whole tonsil as in a tonsillectomy.