The effect of glycopyrrolate premedication on postoperative sore throat

Patients given general endotracheal anesthesia commonly experience postoperative sore throat and/or hoarseness. Our study examined whether the occurrence of postoperative sore throat was associated with the use of a glycopyrrolate premedication and found that it was. We randomly assigned 120 patients undergoing general endotracheal anesthesia for routine surgery to receive a preoperative mediation including or excluding glycopyrrolate. We controlled for factors known to increase the risk of a postoperative sore throat. After surgery, an interviewer, unaware of the subject's group assignment, questioned each subject about the presence of a sore throat and, if present, asked the patient to rate its severity. We found that patients who did not receive preoperative glycopyrrolate were significantly less likely to report having a sore throat or reported having a less severe sore throat than patients who did receive glycopyrrolate.