Evaluation of Cuff Pressure Monitoring in Attenuating Post-Operative Laryngo-Tracheal Complications in Adults Due to Oro-Tracheal Intubation: A Prospective Randomized Controlled trial

Introduction: The most common laryngo-tracheal complaints following General anesthesia with tracheal intubation in the postoperative period are sore throat and hoarseness of voice with an incidence varying from 24% to 90%. The tracheal mucosal damage following excess pressure by endotracheal cuff is one of the most important causative factors. This study was designed to evaluate whether monitoring the cuff pressure of the endotracheal tube intra-operatively can help in attenuating the occurrence of sore throat and hoarseness of voice. Methodology: 100 patients posted to undergo elective procedures under general anaesthesia with oro-tracheal intubation were recruited by simple random sampling and randomized into Group A and Group B with 50 in each group. General anaesthesia was administered using standard protocol in all the patients. Patients belonging to Group A underwent cuff pressure monitoring and patients belonging to Group B were taken as controls and no such monitoring was done. The Incidence of sore throat and hoarseness of voice were noted in both the groups along with the severity of sore throat. Results: 100 patients were analyzed for the outcomes without any dropouts. The basic parameters like age, sex, BMI, and duration of surgery were found to be statistically insignificant among the two groups. The incidence of sore throat and its severity along with that of hoarseness of voice were found to be statistically highly significant in Group B when compared to Group A (p < 0.002**).   Conclusion: We conclude that intraoperative cuff pressure monitoring not only reduces incidence of sore throat and hoarseness of voice, but also its severity in patients undergoing general anesthesia with oro-tracheal intubation.