A surgical instrument used to cut and remove adenoid tissue from the throat.
From Greek 'aden' (gland) + 'tome' (cutting tool), combining the roots for gland surgery developed in the 19th century as adenoid removal became a common procedure.
Before antibiotics, swollen adenoids were one of the top reasons kids had surgery, making the adenotome one of the most-used surgical tools in early 20th-century operating rooms—you might say it was the smartphone of its era.
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