[Sore throat after use of the laryngeal mask and intubation]

The laryngeal mask was developed by Brain in 1981 and described for the first time in 1983. It has been applied a few million times worldwide since 1988. One of the main complication is soreness of the throat. Two hundred unselected patients who had gynaecological procedures under general anaesthesia--100 under laryngeal mask airway and 100 under intubation--were surveyed to ascertain the incidence of sore throats under laryngeal mask airway. Each patient was asked about soreness of the throat during the next two days. The incidence and duration of sore throats were recorded using a pain scale (0-100). After narcoses with the laryngeal mask, 63 patients had no complaints. Thirty-seven had sore throats with an average pain score of 8.1 +/- 13.8 on the day of operation. The average pain scores showed a decreasing tendency (4.2 +/- 9.5 and 0.4 +/- 2.6) for the first and second postoperative day. After intubation narcoses, we recorded sore throats significantly more frequently (p < 0.05) and the average pain score on the day of operation was significantly higher (13.2 +/- 17.5; p < 0.05) than after narcoses with the laryngeal mask. Also after narcoses with the laryngeal mask, the average pain scores decreased quickly on the first and second postoperative days (5.1 +/- 9.0 and 0.2 +/- 1.4). There were no differences regarding sore throats between narcoses with the laryngeal mask or intubation on these two postoperative days. Using both anaesthesiological methods, sore throat was not related to duration of anaesthesia or the experience of the anaesthetist.