Moffett’s Solution Causes Significantly Greater Postoperative Throat Pain Compared to Cophenylcaine in Sinonasal Surgery

Abstract

Aim. Preoperative decongestion with Moffett’s solution is routine practice in sinonasal procedures providing an ideal operative field. Anecdotally, it is related to postoperative throat pain, yet a quantitative relationship has not been established. We compare the incidence and severity of postoperative throat pain after application of Moffett’s solution against Cophenylcaine decongestion. Methodology. A total of thirty patients from two consultants were recruited. The intervention arm (twenty) was decongested with Moffett’s solution and the control arm (ten) with Cophenylcaine. The primary outcome was self-reported postoperative throat pain as measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) at 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours, and next morning. Results. There was a significantly higher VAS for throat pain in patients decongested with Moffett’s solution in the early postoperative period (2 hours p=0.03, 4 hours p=0.04). Conclusion. Moffett’s solution is associated with a greater severity of transient postoperative throat pain compared to topical Cophenylcaine. We recommend further studies to identify means to minimise this side effect. Clinical Trial Registration. This paper has been registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry under the registration number: ACTRN12619000772145.