The prophylactic effects of gabapentin on postoperative sore throat after thyroid surgery.

Background: Postoperative sore throat (POST) is considered a usual complication after tracheal intubation, especially, thyroid surgery. Gabapentin is a widely studied multimodal perioperative drug, which can be used to treat acute postoperative pain. The primary endpoints of this study was a reduction of the incidence of POST at rest and during the swallowing movements after thyroid surgery. And the second endpoints was a reduction of the intensity of the POST after thyroid surgery.

Methods: Seventy-one patients that underwent elective thyroid surgery received either gabapentin (Neurontin™ 600 mg) or placebo, orally, one hour before anesthesia. The VAS scores and incidences of POST and adverse effects were determined at 1 hr, 6 hr, 12 hr, and 24 hr after surgery at rest and during swallowing movement.

Results: The gabapentin group (N = 36) showed a lower incidence of POST than the placebo group (N = 35) (47% vs. 78%, P = 0.038), and had significant lower VAS score at 6 and 24 hours after surgery in the resting state. However, during the movement, no intergroup differences were found in terms of the incidence of POST (83% vs. 91%, P = 0.305) or VAS score. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed between the two groups, in adverse effects.

Conclusions: Gabapentin (Neurontin™ 600 mg) administered 1 hr before anesthesia reduced the intensity and incidence of POST during the resting state without a significant adverse event, during the 24 hr after thyroid surgery. However, gabapentin did not reduce the intensity and incidence of POST during the swallowing movement.