Sore throat and hoarseness after fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation

Abstract

Fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation is frequently chosen for surgery involving the oral cavity. In such cases, the endotracheal tube passes through the vocal cords into the trachea blindly, which may cause laryngeal trauma. We, therefore, studied the incidence of sore throat and hoarseness after fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation (n=44) and compared the results with those after conventional oral intubation (n=35). The incidence of sore throat was lower in the fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation group than in the conventional oral intubation group but the difference was not statistically significant (25.0%s 42.8%). The incidence of hoarseness after fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation was significantly lower than that after conventional oral intubation (4.5%s 34.3%,P<0.05). This study confirms a low incidence of laryngeal trauma in fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation.

Keywords: Complications; Fiberscope; Hoarseness; Nasotracheal intubation; Sore throat.