tonsils - Lymphoma

My 3 year old son has always had larger then normal tonsils. He has been seen by doctors who have shown little or no concern about the enlarged tonsils. I took him to his paedritician 2 days ago and she took a look at his tonsils and showed concern at their size. He is not sick, has not had any antibiotics for the last 8 months, is eating fine and his weight seems to be steadily increasing. She said that there may be 0.5% - 1% chance of lymphoma. He suffers from allergies and I just try to keep his nose clean so that the allergens don't fester there and cause infection in his nasal passages. He is to see a ENT in two days to assess the situation. I am beside myself and I don't know what to do or how to deal with the scary prospect. please advise.

[ENTMD]

Sofia, I think you may have been unduly alarmed.  Large tonsils are quite common and, as long as they are not causing your child problems (breathing, snoring/apnea, eating, infections), there is no need to worry about them.  He will "outgrow" them in that his airway will get bigger and the tonsils will shrink, in time.

The numbers she quoted you are a wild exaggeration.

In some studies looking at patient with tonsillar ASYMMETRY, the numbers you quoted have been reached.  In other studies with ASYMMETRY, no increased risk was found unless patients also had SYMPTOMS.

There is no report of increased risk for lymphoma in cases like your son's -- enlarged tonsils.  I don't know where your doctor is getting her numbers...