Background: Postoperative sore throat is one of the most common complications of general anesthesia and intubation with prevalence of 18%-65% in different studies. Several risk factors including female gender, postoperative nausea and vomiting and so on have been mentioned.Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of postoperative sore throat in females and its association with menstrual cycles.Patients and Methods: One hundred females between 18-45 years old with ASA class I or II without predicted difficult airway that were candidate for operation in supine position were enrolled in study. Patients who had pulmonary disease, smoking, common cold within two weeks prior to the operation, previous traumatic intubation history, removable dentures, any congenital or acquired deformity in face, neck, mouth and airway, any known pathology in mouth like aphthous and mouth ulcer, pregnant women, and patients with irregular cycles, and those taking oral contraceptive pills were excluded. By the same protocol general anesthesia was provided and the patients were asked to fill out a three-point scale questionnaire (Low, High, None) 1, 6 and 24 hours following intubation to study and record the incidence and severity of sore throat, dysphagia and hoarseness. The date of last menstrual period had been recorded as well.Results: Of 100 patients, in the first six hours, 51 patients had sore throat and 49 had no pain. During the first 6 hours, 33 patients (33%) had dysphagia and 13 patients had hoarseness at 6th postoperative hour. Age, weight, LMP, intubation time, operation and extubation time and coughing were compared to sore throat, dysphagia and hoarseness. The association between the incidence of coughing and bucking and sore throat was significant (P=0.03).None of the parameters had a statistically meaningful association with dysphagia.Conclusions: According to our results, by omitting probable risk factors of incidence of sore throat and evaluation of role of hormonal changes in women represented in menstrual cycles, there was no significant association between menstrual cycle and sore throat incidence.

Background: Postoperative sore throat is one of the most common complications after endotracheal intubation. Both Ketamine and magnesium can block N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors and provide central and local analgesia.Objectives: To compare the effect of magnesium sulfate and ketamine gargle on the incidence and severity of postoperative sore throat.Patients and Methods: A total of 100 patients candidate for emergency acute appendicitis surgery were enrolled in the study. Patients in ketamine group received ketamine gargle (0.5 mg/kg) and magnesium group received magnesium sulfate gargle (20 mg/kg up to 30 mL dextrose water 20%) 15 minutes before the operation. Patient complaint of postoperative sore throat, and its severity measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) were recorded at baseline in recovery room, and then 2, 4, and 24 hours after operation.Results: There were no significant differences between age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) between two groups of patients. Hemodynamics of patients, including blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation %, and conscious state were not significantly different (P>0.05). Number of patients with sore throat were significantly lower in magnesium group compared to ketamine group at 2 (P=0.032), 4 (P=0.02), and 24 hours (P=0.01) after the operation. Sore throat pain score (VAS) was significantly lower in magnesium group compared to ketamine group at 2 (P=0.019), 4 (P=0.028), and 24 hours (P=0.014) after the operation.Conclusions: Magnesium at low dose decreases sore throat and pain severity more effectively compared to ketamine gargle.

Background: Sore throat is one of the major post-operative complications. Despite efforts to reduce sore throat, this complication is still one of the main problems after surgery. The aim of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of ketamine gargle on sore throat after tracheal intubation.Materials and method: This double blind clinical trial was performed on 120, ASA-I and II, patients undergoing elective surgery for herniorrhaphy under general anesthesia. Patients in group 1 were gargled 40 mg ketamine in 30mg saline and in group 2, only 30ml saline. For third group we did not do any intervention. Postoperative sore throat was graded at 0, 2, 4 and 24 h after operation on Verbal Analogue Scale (0-4).Results: Postoperative sore throat occurred less frequently in group 1, when compared with groups 2 and 3, but the difference was not significant. Frequently sore throat was reported at two hours after surgery. In this study, there was no severe (score 3) or very severe (score 4) sore throat. No systemic or local side effects were observed.Conclusion: In this study, ketamine gargle reduced the incidence and severity of post-operative sore throat. Therefore, gargling of ketamine solution is recommended for cases that need to tracheal intubation, especially when the probability of difficult intubation and post-operative sore throat is high.

Background: Sore throat is a common complication after surgery. Application of 10% lidocaine spray on cuff of a tracheal tube maybe associated with decreased risk of postoperative sore throat.Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of 10% lidocaine spray on postoperative sore throat.Methods: This double-blind study was conducted at Rajaei Hospital in Qazvin during 2008-2009. Two hundred ASA I-III surgical patients (except the neck surgery) aged 9-81 years and without signs of common cold, were randomly divided into two groups. The subject group received aerosolized lidocaine (5 puffs) on cuff of the tracheal tube before tracheal intubation. The patients in control group received normal saline instead. Later, the patients underwent a standardized general anesthesia. These patients were interviewed when leaving the recovery room and re-questioned for the presence of sore throat the following day in the wards. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test.Findings: Sore throat was present in 29% of subject group and 22% of control group while in the recovery room. Sore throat decreased to 16% and 17% on the day after surgery. There was no significant difference in incidence of sore throat between two groups based on duration of surgery and the patient's sex when in the recovery room or wards.Conclusion: It seems that the application of aerosolized lidocaine on cuff of the tracheal tube before tracheal intubation fails to decrease the incidence of postoperative sore throat.

Background and purpose: Ketamine efficacy as an analgesic adjuvant has been studied in several clinical settings with conflicting results. Sore throat and pain after swallowing following tonsillectomy is significant. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ketamine on sore throat (pain) after tonsillectomy.Materials and Methods: In this double blind clinical trial, fifty children were, divided in to two equal groups of Ketamine and control. The subjects aged 4-14 years old and physical ASA class 1-11 were randomized to receive pemedication with either ketamine 0.1mg/kg I.V. or placebo 5 minutes before induction of a standard general anesthesia.Results: The ketamine group showed significantly lower pain scores with less total pethidine consumption (P<0.005) during 6h after surgery. The mean pain score in ketamine group was 1.32 and in control group was 2.4. There were no differences in the incidence of vomiting between the groups. Conclusion: Premedication with a small dose of ketamine reduces pain after tonsillectomy in children who received an analgesic regimen combined with an opoid.

Introduction: Tracheal intubation is a safe and popular method for airway control during general anesthesia for sugary, but it has some complictions such as airway mucosal barrier damage that results post-extubation sore throat (21%-65%). This complication is uncomfortable for patients and it is one of causes of delayed discharge in outpatients. Therefore, reducing this complication is useful for both patients and medical health centers. Objective: In this study, we wanted to evaluate the effect of topical Clobetazol cream on sore throat after tracheal extubation.Materials and Methods: In a double- blind randomized clinical trial, 88 patients in ASA class I or II and age over 18 years were selected as candidates for elective surgery other than head and neck surgery.They were randomly divided into two groups. Each group had 44 patients. In one group, Clobetazol cream was applied on tracheal tubes before intubation. In another group, Vitamin A cream was used for this purpose.2, 12 and 24 hours after extubation according to questionnaires, the patients were asked about sore throat. Data were processed by SPSS software and then analyzed with X2 test. (p<0.05 was considered significant).Results: Incidence of sore throat after tracheal extubation in clobetazol group was 24.5% and in Vitamin A group 63.6% (P<0.005)Conclusion: According to results of this study, we concluded that applying Clobetazol cream on tracheal tube before tracheal intubation is highly effective in reducing sore throat after extubation .

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare but potentially fatal syndrome of immune hyperactivation. The HLH-2004 criteria is a standard guide for the diagnosis of HLH. We report the case of a 48-year-old female who presented with a sore throat, fever, weakness, and lethargy. Initial laboratory tests revealed pancytopenia. A bone marrow aspirate was performed, which revealed hemophagocytosis. The patient fulfilled the HLH-2004 criteria. The present study tries to raise awareness about the proper diagnosis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and to notify clinicians about one of the rarest complications of this disease (HLH).

Background: We assessed the efficacy of intravenous dexamethasone for prevention of postoperative sore throat. Materials and Method: In this randomized, prospective, double blind, clinical trial study, 86 female patients ASA 1 or 2 undergoing tracheal intubation for gynecological surgery received before intubation either intravenous dexamethasone (0.1 mg/kg) or placebo. Postoperative pain was assessed by the patients using a Visual Analogue Scale 0/AS) and a specific scoring system for sore throat, cough and hoarseness. Evaluations were performed 12 hrs after surgery.Results: Overall incidence of sore throat and cough and hoarseness in both groups was 29% and 34% respectively. There were no statistical differences between incidence of postextubation sore throat (X2= 0.056, df= 1, p= 0.812), cough (X2= 1.55, df=1, p= 0.213) and hoarseness (X2= 0.882, df= 1, p= 0.348) in the two groups.Conclusion: Intravenous dexamethasone is therefore ineffective in the prevention of postoperative sore throat.