Postoperative sore throat related to tracheal tube cuff design

Recent reports of the incidence of postoperative sore throat following anaesthesia with tracheal intubation have claimed that low volume high pressure cuffs are preferable to those with high volume and low pressure. In this study similar methods were used for evaluating postoperative sore throat. Randomly selected tracheal tubes were used in 56 patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery, followed by direct questioning about sore throat on the first postoperative day. The incidence of postoperative sore throat was 41 per cent with high volume low pressure cuffed tubes and 55 per cent with low volume high pressure cuffed tubes. This difference is not statistically significant, but the tendency of the results is contradictory to those published earlier. The incidence of postoperative sore throat varies greatly if direct or indirect questioning is used and also varies between studies using the same method of questioning. Therefore the validity of this method for evaluating the influence of cuff design must be questioned. Postoperative sore throat is a symptom caused by many factors, such as the intubation procedure and the use of stylets or lubricants. The incidence of postoperative sore throat does not necessarily reflect damage caused by the tracheal tube cuff.