Comparison of Preoperative Ketamine Nebulization versus Saline Nebulization in    Decreasing the frequency and Severity of Postoperative Sore Throat

Abstract

Objective: To compare preoperative Ketamine nebulization versus saline nebulization in reducing the frequency and severity of sore throat postoperatively. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Anesthesia, Combined Military Hospital, Bahawalpur Pakistan, from Jan to Jun 2022. Methodology: A total of 120 patients (60 in each group) with different surgeries filling the inclusion criteria were considered in the study. Adult patients of 20-60 years with ASA class 1-2 who were planned for elective surgery of less than 2 hours were included. Group-A patients underwent nebulization with Ketamine while in Group-B nebulization was done with normal saline. Results: A total of patients included were 120 (60 each group). Twenty-eight (23.3%) patients developed Post-Operative Sore Throat at some time after extubation. The frequency of Post-Operative Sore Throat with Ketamine was 13.3% and with saline it was 33.3%. Twenty (71.42%) patients of Post-Operative Sore Throat developed sore throat at 2 hours after extubation, of which 15 patients belong to Saline Group (p-value 0.01). Twenty-one patients of Post-Operative Sore Throat had mild sore throat of which 14 patients were of Saline Group (p-value 0.006). Conclusion: Ketamine nebulization postoperatively leads to reduced frequency and severity of Post-Operative Sore Throat in early post-operative period in patients in which endotracheal intubation was done for GA.

Keywords

• Ketamine, Nebulization, Pharyngitis, Sore throat