Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the postoperative effects of endotracheal tube cuff inflation with alkalized lidocaine in patients undergoing thyroidectomy surgery.
Methods: This is a randomized, double-blind clinical trial between August 2020 and August 2022 at the Hospital São Domingos, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil. Patients over 18 years who underwent thyroidectomy of both sexes, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I or ASA II, were included. Patients with difficult orotracheal intubation, smoking, cuff rupture during orotracheal intubation, heart, lung, or neuropathies, previous surgery of the larynx or trachea, with risk of aspiration of gastric contents, or with the need to use a nasogastric tube were excluded. Patients were randomly selected and divided into the control group, whose cuff was filled with 0.9% saline solution, and the alkalinized lidocaine group, where the cuff was filled with 2% lidocaine and 8.4% sodium bicarbonate.
Results: The control group had higher systolic blood pressure [137 (94-183) mmHg] medians after extubation than the alkalinized lidocaine group [127 (82-189) mmHg] (p=0.03). The same was observed in heart rate values [control group: 86 (62-120); alkalinized lidocaine group: 80 (53-120)] (p=0.034). The alkalinized lidocaine group showed a significant increase in the ability to sustain phonation in the 24 h postoperatively, from 82.0 to 98.0% (p=0.031).
Conclusion: There was no protective effect of the use of alkalinized lidocaine on the sensation of swallowing and complaints after thyroidectomy surgery. There was a significant improvement in hemodynamic response in the intervention group after extubation.