"Doctor, I don't hurt, but my voice is uncomfortable and my voice is hoarse. "Recently, after the extubation of general anesthesia, I have heard such words from patients many times, in order to better serve patients, let's learn the causes, prevention and treatment measures of sore throat after general anesthesia.
Postoperative sore throat is mainly manifested as postoperative dry mouth, pain in the throat, local congestion and redness, hoarseness, cough and pharyngeal foreign body sensation.
1. Reasons
1. Anesthesia operation: During the operation, in order to maintain the airway and control the breathing and facilitate the patient's intraoperative airway management, anesthesiologists usually perform endotracheal intubation, laryngeal mask and laryngoscopy, which will cause damage to the throat mucosa and lead to postoperative sore throat.
2. General anesthetic drugs: General anesthetic drugs such as opioids and inhaled anesthetic gases can cause irritation to the airway mucosa and cause postoperative sore throat.
3. Young patients, women, patients with head and neck surgery, patients with chronic pharyngitis, patients with recent respiratory tract infection, obesity, long operation time, prone position during surgery, too thick endotracheal tube and too deep insertion depth are all risk factors for postoperative sore throat.
4. Dry throat caused by prolonged water fasting before surgery, smoking, drinking and other bad habits.
5. Personal physical factors: Some patients have poor tolerance to surgery and anesthetic drugs.
2. Prevention
1. Fully communicate with the patient before the operation and do a good job in psychological construction for the patient.
2. Quit smoking and alcohol before surgery, and actively treat respiratory infectious diseases.
3. The intubation action is gentle, and local anesthetic lubricants, such as lidocaine glue, can be applied to the endotracheal intubation to avoid repeated or violent intubation, and the intubation is properly fixed after successful intubation to avoid the catheter moving up and down and rubbing and damaging the mucosa.
4. Avoid overuse of opioid narcotic analgesics and inhalation anesthetics.
5. Keep the indoor humidity appropriate and avoid over-drying the air.
6. Rinse your mouth frequently after surgery to keep your mouth clean.
3. Treatment
1. Use physiotherapy measures such as ice, heat and aerosol inhalation.
2. Symptomatic application of painkillers such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen.
3. Eat light and easy-to-digest foods, avoid spicy and irritating foods, and ensure water intake.
4. After waking up after surgery, you can drink an appropriate amount of water, a small amount of 5-10ml each time, to ensure the cleanliness of the mouth and reduce inflammation. Chewing gum can also be chewed appropriately to stimulate saliva secretion, which can not only lubricate the oral mucosa, but also have a certain bactericidal effect.
Sore throat first appears within 30 minutes after extubation, and most patients can resolve spontaneously within 72 hours after extubation. If symptoms persist after one week, you should see an otolaryngologist to prevent vocal cord and nerve damage.
About author:ZHANG Xin, female, master, attending physician in the Department of Anesthesiology, Tangshan Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
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