Efficacy of Intravenous Lidocaine in Preventing Laryngospasm in Children Undergoing Tonsillectomy

Background: laryngospasm is a well-known problem typically occurring immediately following tracheal extubation. lidocaine is known to inhibit airway reflexes. pediatric laryngospasm is an anesthetic emergency. it is a relatively common phenomenon that occurs with varying frequency dependent on multiple factors. treating laryngospasm by using lidocaine is controversial. aim: to compare the efficacy of intravenous lidocaine with placebo for prevention of laryngospasm in children undergoing tonsillectomy. methods: this was a randomized controlled trail conducted in the department of anesthesia,mayo hospital lahore. total 150 patients were included in the study and randomly divided into 2 groups. each group contained 75 patients each. in group-p patients were given placebo and in group-l patients were given iv lidocaine. informed consent was taken from parents of each patient in both treatment groups. relevant information was recorded on a well-defined performa. data entry and analysis was done by using spss 11.5. results: average age of all 150 patients was 8.33±2.33 years. average age of patients in group-p and in group-l was 8.09±2.37 and 8.56±2.32 years respectively. in placebo group laryngospasm was present in 20% and in lidocaine group 8% of the patients had laryngospasm. efficacy of lidocaine in controlling laryngospasm was 92% where as efficacy of placebo group was 80%. lidocaine shows greater efficacy for controlling laryngospasm. conclusion: on the basis of obtained results it is concluded that lidocaine effectively controls laryngospasm in children undergoing tonsillectomy.