[Reducing sore throat following laryngeal mask airway insertion: comparing lidocaine gel, saline, and washing mouth with the control group].

BACKGROUND: Laryngeal mask airway is still accompanied by complications such as sore throat. In this study, effects of three methods of reducing postoperative sore throat were compared with the control group.

METHODS: 240 patients with ASA I, II candidates for cataract surgery were randomly divided into four same groups. No supplementary method was used in the control group. In the second, third and fourth groups, lidocaine gel, washing cuff before insertion, and washing mouth before removing laryngeal mask airway were applied, respectively. Anesthesia induction was done with fentanyl, atracurium, and propofol and maintained with propofol infusion. The incidence of sore throat was evaluated during the recovery, 3-4h later and after 24h using verbal analog scale. The data were analyzed by t-test, analysis of variance and chi-square using SPSS V11.5.

RESULTS: Age, gender, duration of surgery and cuff pressure were the same in all the four groups. Incidence of sore throat at recovery room was highest in the control group (43.3%) and lowest in the washing mouth group (25%). However, no significant statistical difference was observed between these four groups (recovery, p=0.30; discharge, p=0.31; examination, p=0.52). In this study, increased duration of operation had a significant relationship with the incidence of sore throat (p=0.041).

CONCLUSION: Sore throat is a common postoperative problem, but no special method has been found completely efficient yet. In this study, cuff washing, lidocaine gel, and mouth washing before removing laryngeal mask airway were not helpful for sore throat.