The impact of preoperative oral ingestion of water on intraoperative gastric fluid volume for elective gastroscopy: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: Preoperative fasting of clear fluids is recommended to reduce the incidence of pulmonary aspiration under anesthesia but non-compliance may cause aspiration or an inconvenient delay in surgery. Safe reduction of fasting time below the current standard of 2 hours has been reported but has not been demonstrated clinically. The aim of this study was to determine if reducing the fast of clear fluids to 1 hour increases residual gastric volume.Methods: 181 adult patients scheduled for gastroscopy at three sites were randomized to receive 200 ml of water either 80-150 (Standard Fast group) or 40-75 minutes (Short Fast group) before anesthesia. Patients were stratified to current proton..