Gargling with ketamine preoperatively decreases postoperative sore throat after endotracheal intubation in middle ear...

Postoperative sore throat (POST) is the eighth most common side effect in the postoperative period. Though it is considered as a minor side effect, it can lead to significant discomfort for the patient. Increased morbidity due to postoperative sore throat could have a big impact on outcomes with an increased economic burden to the nation. To determine the efficacy of ketamine gargle on a postoperative sore throat, we compared ketamine gargle with a normal saline gargle. Furthermore, we studied their efficacy on postoperative cough and hoarseness of voice. We randomly allocated 60 patients of ASA-I and II into two groups equally in patients posted for middle ear surgeries under general anaesthesia. Patients of the group- K were asked to gargle with 40 mg ketamine mixed with 29 ml normal saline preoperatively. Group- C patients were given 30 ml normal saline to gargle. Airway manipulation in all patients was done by senior anesthesiologists in the operating room. Patients were observed and interviewed at 1 h, 6 h, and 24 h after extubation for postoperative sore throat, cough, and hoarseness of voice. In the control group, the incidence of postoperative sore throat at 1 h, 6 h, and 24 h was 50%, 43.3%, and 36.7% respectively. When we compared the incidence in the ketaminegroup (Group-K) with the control group it showed that they were significantly lower (p-value ≤ 0.05) at all three observation points. On the other hand, ketamine gargle has no significant protective effect on the severity of postoperative sore throat, cough, and hoarseness of voice. Ketamine gargle in this study, showed significantly effective in attenuating postoperative sore throat in patients undergoing tracheal intubation for elective surgeries.