Intratracheal Lidocaine Reduces Incidence of Cough During Extubation and Sore Throat After Tonsillectomy Surgery: A Randomized, Single-blind Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: The incidence of cough during extubation occurs in 40–76% of patients. One effort to reduce this incidence is the use of lidocaine. This study aims to further investigate the benefits of intratracheal lidocaine in reducing the incidence of cough during extubation and sore throat after tonsillectomy surgery. Materials and Methods: This study is a single-blind clinical trial. The research subjects were taken by consecutive sampling. A total of 51 subjects who met inclusion and exclusion criteria will be divided into three groups: lidocaine intubation group (Group LI); lidocaine extubation group (Group LE), and control group. Comparison of cough scores during extubation and sore throat scores on the 1st and 6th hours after tonsillectomy surgery in the three groups was analyzed. Results: In this study, the results showed the cough scores and sore throat scores on the 1st and 6th hours postoperatively between the LI and LE groups when compared with the control group were significantly lower (P < 0.001). The cough scores between the LI group and the LE group were not significantly different (P = 0.234). Likewise, comparison of sore throat scores on the 1st and 6th hours postoperatively between the LI group and the LE group was not significantly different (P = 0.728 and P = 0.537, respectively). Conclusion: Lidocaine intratracheal given just before intubation or just before extubation significantly reduced the incidence of cough during extubation and sore throat on the 1st and 6th hours postoperatively when compared with placebo in the post-tonsillectomy surgery.