Effect of postoperative ultrasound-guided internal superior laryngeal nerve block on sore throat after intubation of double-lumen bronchial tube: a randomized controlled double-blind trial

Postoperative sore throat (POST) is one of the main adverse postoperative outcome after tracheal intubation using double-lumen endobronchial tubes (DLTs). The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and safety of ultrasound (US)-guided block of the internal branch of the superior laryngeal nerve (iSLN) for alleviating POST after intubation of DLTs. The incidence and severity of sore throat were significantly lower in the experimental group than the control group at all time intervals (all P < 0.01). The rate of nausea and vomiting, hoarseness, dyspnea, and choking cough after swallow saliva at 2 h after extubation had no statistical difference (all P > 0.05). The use of US-guided iSLN block can be effectively and safely applied to relieve POST after intubation of DLTs on thoracic surgery.