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The incidence of postoperative sore throat was evaluated prospectively in 203 orotracheally intubated patients undergoing general anesthesia for surgical procedures. Patients were randomly assigned to have either a plastic oropharyngeal airway or a gauze bite-block in place during the operation and were evaluated for the occurrence of postoperative sore throat by questionnaire the day after surgery. The incidence of postoperative sore throat was 35.2% in the oropharyngeal airway group and 42.5% in the gauze bite-block group, not a statistically significant difference (P greater than 0.05). The incidence of postoperative sore throat was significantly higher when blood was noted on the airway instruments (64.5%) than when it was not (30.9%) (P less than 0.01). There was an association, although not statistically significant, between the incidence of postoperative sore throat and intubation by an anesthesia resident with less than 1 yr experience (P = 0.064). The data from this study indicate that the intraoperative use of hard plastic oropharyngeal airways, compared with the use of soft gauze bite-blocks, does not increase the incidence of postoperative sore throat. These data also suggest that pharyngeal trauma may contribute significantly to the development of postoperative sore throat. We suggest that aggressive oropharyngeal suctioning may contribute to this pharyngeal trauma.

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