Introduction:

The postoperative sore throat is a frequent complication, characterized by odynophagia after endotracheal intubation.

Objective:

To compare nebulized ketamine in the preoperative period against nebulized placebo for the reduction of the postoperative sore throat on elective surgery under general anesthesia.

Material and methods:

We performed an experimental, prospective, randomized, double blind study; conducted from February to July 2016. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups: group K: preoperative nebulized ketamine (50 mg: 1 mL of ketamine + 2 mL of saline solution 0.9%) against group P: placebo (nebulization of 3 mL saline solution 0.9%). We collected vital signs as well as symptoms and intensity of postoperative sore throat according to the analog numeric scale at the first and forth postoperative hours.

Results:

The use of nebulized ketamine does not represent a statistically significant difference compared to placebo for postoperative sore throat. The incidence of postoperative sore throat in our study was of 59.29%.

Conclusions:

We need further studies of nebulized ketamine in the Mexican population, as well as a larger study to determine the gold standard for the treatment of POST.