Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research

Aims: Sore throat, hoarseness, and cough are postoperative complications caused by tracheal intubation in general anesthesia. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of preoperative ketamine splashing on reducing postoperative sore throat.

Study Design:  A cross-sectional/ randomized, double-blinded clinicall study.

Place and Duration of Study: Departments of anesthesiology, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran, from Apr 2014 to Dec 2014.

Methodology: This study was performed on 68 patients who were randomly assigned into two groups. The control group received 2 cc normal saline and the case group received 25 mg ketamine in 2 cc normal saline. To evaluate ketamine preoperative splashing efficacy, the incidence and severity of postoperative sore throat (post) and other complications caused by tracheal intubation were compared between two groups.

Results: In the ketamine group, the incidence and severity of post were less compared to the control group. The findings revealed significant differences in terms of sore throat (in recovery time; 6 h and 12 h after surgery) and hoarseness (in recovery time) among the two groups. The investigation of patient’s vital signs showed a significant difference between groups regarding HR at 5^th and 15^th minutes of surgery among the two groups. No hallucination was found in either group.

Conclusion: According to these results, ketamine preoperative splashing can significantly reduce the incidence and severity of postoperative complications of endotracheal intubation such as sore throat, with no side effect.