Reply to: two-handed jaw thrust in patients undergoing intubation with a double-lumen endobronchial tube

Editor, We appreciate the interest shown by Hu et al.1 in our recently published article on the prevention of postoperative sore throat in patients undergoing double-lumen endobronchial intubation. They noted two issues which we did not clearly address in our article.2 First, we lubricated the double-lumen endobronchial tube with sterile 0.9% saline in both groups. Lubrication of the endobronchial tube with jelly increases the chance of postoperative sore throat because the additive ingredients of lidocaine jelly can irritate the airway.3 Previous investigations regarding double-lumen endobronchial tube and sore throat used 0.9% saline as the lubricant agent.4 The combined effect of jaw thrust manoeuvre and various type of jelly on postoperative airway complications needs further evaluation. Second, we modified the endobronchial tube shape according to the previous investigation in both groups.5 We apologise for the lack of description regarding the tube shape modification. The modification of double-lumen endobronchial tube is known to reduce the time to intubation and the incidence of airway complications. In summary, we used sterile 0.9% saline lubrication and the modification of the tube in both groups.