Publication:

Postoperative sore throat in patients undergone head and neck surgeries under endotracheal intubation and laryngeal mask anaesthesia

Background Postoperative sore throat (POST) is a frequent complaint among the subjects undergoing head and neck surgeries. Orotracheal intubation with the endotracheal tube (ETT) and laryngeal mask (LM) was used for anaesthesia.  This study was aimed to analyze the effect of variation in cuff pressure and size of ETT and LM mask anaesthesia on post-surgical pain.

Methods Patients (ages of 10-79) who underwent head and neck surgeries by ETT intubation and LM anaesthesia were included in the study. The pain was measured as pain score during different cuff pressure and size of tube or mask and data was statistically analyzed.

Results Total 100 subjects of each group and both genders were included in the prospective study. No statistically significant difference could be observed among the number of cases in both groups. Among the patients, females were dominant (p = 0.405). The intensity of pain was gradually decreased during the 2nd and 3rd post surgical days in both groups. The frequency of patients with pain in the LMA group was less than that of ETT group on the 1st day. No correlation between the pain score and cuff pressure or size of ETT and LMA could be evidenced.

Conclusions The postoperative sore throat can be effectively reduced by LMA. The pain score and frequency of patients with pain in the LMA group was less than that of ETT group. No correlation of pain score with different cuff pressure and size of tube or mask could be evidenced.