Laryngeal injury and dysphonia after endotracheal intubation

Abstract

We carried out a prospective case series study in order to evaluate the laryngeal complications of the endotracheal tube. Two hundred patients aged 15 years and above who were subjected to endotracheal intubation for less than 5 hours were enrolled in the study. The data were collected from the Al-Salam Teaching Hospital in Mosul, Iraq. A preoperative assessment was accomplished clinically using 70º and/or 90º Hopkins rods or fiber optic laryngoscopy. As part of the assessment, the patients' voices were recorded as well. Five to seven days after the procedure, the same assessment was repeated and compared to the preoperative data. If the postoperative examination and the voices were similar to the preoperative data, no follow-up was performed. If any abnormality was found in the larynx, the examination was repeated once weekly for one month or until the voice was recovered. In our study, five patients (2.5%) had intubation-related laryngeal injuries. The intubation period, changes in the position of the head or body of the patient during anesthesia, and the difficulty of intubation raised the possibility of laryngeal injuries. In general, intubation is a safe procedure; however, a laryngeal injury may appear as a rare complication. We found that there is a relation between the intubation period, changing the position of the patient during intubation, and difficulty of intubation with the occurrence of laryngeal injury.