Comparative study to analyze the incidence of sore throat, cough, and hoarseness of voice after general anesthesia with the use of topical benzydamine hydrochloride and 2% lignocaine gel with placebo

Background: Postoperative sore throat (POST) is the most common airway-related complaint of patients after endotracheal intubation. Postextubation coughing during emergence from general anesthesia (GA) is an important problem. Objectives: To compare the effects of topical benzydamine hydrochloride and 2% lignocaine on reducing the incidence and severity of POST, hoarseness, and coughing after general endotracheal anesthesia. Materials and Methods: Patients were randomly allocated into three groups of 30 patients each. In Group B (topical benzydamine hydrochloride), Group L (2% lignocaine gel), Group N (normal saline) was applied to the cuffed endotracheal tube (ETT) before intubation. Results: The trend of the severity of sore throat, hoarseness of voice, and cough during the first 24 h after the GA in benzydamine recipients was significantly lower than the other two groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions: It was observed that the incidence of POST, hoarseness of voice, and cough was significantly less when cuff of ETT was lubricated with topical benzydamine hydrochloride as compared with 2% lignocaine gel