Abstract
Background and objectivesPost-operative airway symptoms can be troublesome to patients following an uneventful general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. In this study, we compared the effectiveness of lubricating an endotracheal tube with betamethasone gel or lidocaine jelly with using an unlubricated tube in reducing the incidence and severity of postoperative sore throat, hoarseness and cough.MethodsThis was a prospective, randomized, single-blind comparative study carried out among 120 ASA I and II patients aged 18–65 years undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. Patients were randomly divided into three groups of 40 patients each. Endotracheal tube used for patients in group C was unlubricated, while that for group B and group L were lubricated up to 15 cm mark with 2.5 ml of 0.05% betamethasone gel or 2% lidocaine jelly respectively. Incidence and severity of postoperative sore throat, hoarseness and cough were observed at 1, 6 and 24 h following extubation.ResultsAt 24 h following extubation, group B had the lowest incidence of postoperative sore throat among the three groups (group B: 12.5% vs group L: 37.5% vs group C: 25%; p = 0.036). Severity of postoperative sore throat at 24 h was less with betamethasone (score 0: 87.5%, 1: 10%) compared with lidocaine (score 0: 62.5%, 1: 37.5%) and control (score 0:75%, 1: 20%) (p = 0.006). Observations at other times and of other variables were comparable.ConclusionWide spread application of 0.05% betamethasone gel to lubricate the endotracheal tube significantly reduces the incidence and severity of sore throat at 24 h of extubation but not of hoarseness or cough.
Highlights
Background and objectivesPost-operative airway symptoms can be troublesome to patients following an uneventful general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation
We hypothesized that wide spread application of betamethasone gel over the endotracheal tube is as effective as the application of lidocaine jelly for reduction of the incidence and severity of Postoperative sore throat (POST), hoarseness of voice (HOV) and post-extubation cough (PEC)
After obtaining written informed consent, 120 patients of American society of anesthesiologists-physical status (ASA-PS) I and II, aged 18–65 years of either sex planned for elective surgery under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation were enrolled for the study
Summary
Background and objectivesPost-operative airway symptoms can be troublesome to patients following an uneventful general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. We compared the effectiveness of lubricating an endotracheal tube with betamethasone gel or lidocaine jelly with using an unlubricated tube in reducing the incidence and severity of postoperative sore throat, hoarseness and cough. Several medications and non-pharmacological methods have shown to reduce the incidence of airway symptoms with variable success rate These inconsistent results suggest the likelihood of multiple factors associated with these symptoms—like endotracheal tube size, cuff design, duration of surgery, etc. Betamethasone gel is a long acting water-soluble glucocorticoid that has been used topically for the treatment of inflammatory lesions of the oral mucosa It should, provide lubrication as well as anti-inflammatory effect if used for lubrication of the endotracheal tube. We tried to see different postoperative airway symptoms like POST, HOV and PEC simultaneously
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