Preprocedural Paracetamol Reduces Pain Scores in Patients Undergoing in‐Office Laryngeal Procedures

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the utility of preprocedural paracetamol on reducing pain scores post office‐based laryngeal procedures.Study DesignProspective, controlled before‐after comparative study.SettingControlled prospective before‐after study.MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed of 100 patients who underwent office‐based laryngeal procedures without preprocedural analgesia at our center to establish a control group. Age, sex, procedure type, and amount of substance used were documented as well as postprocedural pain score. Pain scores were recorded every 5 minutes for 30 minutes following office‐based laryngeal procedures. A prospective arm of this study was then performed in which every patient undergoing office‐based laryngeal procedures at our center between September 2019 and December 2020 was administered 1000 mg of paracetamol prior to their procedure. The postprocedure pain scores of the 2 groups were then compared.ResultsA hundred patients were included in the retrospective arm and 75 patients were included in the prospective arm, receiving 1000 mg of paracetamol a median of 45 (interquartile range: 30‐53) minutes prior to their procedure. The 2 groups were matched for age, sex, and type of laryngeal procedure. Both nonanalgesia and analgesia groups demonstrated a similar proportion of patients who experienced any pain (47% and 48%, respectively) postprocedurally. The prospective arm of this study however reported a statistically significant reduction in the magnitude of their pain scores at all points postprocedurally (P = .005).ConclusionParacetamol preprocedurally reduces the severity of pain in office‐based laryngeal procedures and would be a useful consideration for patients who are likely to experience significant postprocedural pain.Level of EvidenceLevel 3.