The efficacy of ketamine gargles on postoperative sore throat

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.