RESUMO
Laryngotracheal injury following endotracheal intubation has been extensively described in the literature, but most discussion has centered around the sequela of prolonged intubation. Little however, has been reported regarding the lesions from short-term endotracheal intubation to ensure the safe practice of anesthesia. In this regard, 72 healthy, male patients undergoing general anesthesia for surgical procedures were randomly assigned to have an endotracheal tube of 7.0, 8.0, or 9.0 mm in internal diameter and were evaluated for the upper airway symptoms by questionnaire within 4-8 hours following extubation. The larynx and trachea were examined and scored for extent and severity of lary- ngotracheal damage by fiberoptic laryngotracheoscopy, and risk factors causing laryngotracheal injury were studied. The results were as follows; The incidence of upper airway symptoms were 13 of 72 (18.1%), of which 10 (13.9%) were throat discomfort and 3 (4.2%) were sore throat. The incidence of laryngeal and tracheal injury was 52 of 72 (72.2%) and 20 of 72 (27.8%), respectively. 20 patients (27.8%) did not reveal any lesion in the laryngotracheal system. The common sites of intubation injury were vocal cords (65.3%, all erythema) and arytenoids (44.4%, erythema 37.5%, edema 6.9%). No correlation could be drawn between the injured and uninjured groups with respect to smoking and length of intubation. However, bucking was associated with severity and extent of laryngeal damage (p<0.05), and with the extent of tracheal damage only (p<0.05). Also, the increase in internal diameter of the tube used was associated with severity and extent of laryngeal damage (p<0.05), but not with tracheal damage.