An interventional study comparing ultrasound guided gastric volume in patients with overnight fasting versus after ingestion of 200ml of apple juice 2 hours before non abdominal surgery.

Perioperative aspiration of gastric contents is a rare but serious complication of anaesthesia. Fasting before general anaesthesia aims to reduce the volume and acidity of stomach contents during surgery, thus reducing the risk of regurgitation/aspiration . Hence in an attempt to reduce the fasting hours of a patient pre-operatively without increasing the risk of pulmonary aspiration we compared the gastric volume using ultrasonography and pHof gastric aspirate by pH strip in patients after overnight fasting and after ingestion of 200 ml apple juice 2 hours prior to surgery. After ethical committee approval study was started at Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, Coimbatore. Written and informed consents were taken. Duration of study was 4 months from March 2018 to June 2018. Total 50 patients were equally divided to each group by computer generated randomization. Group I included patients with over night fasting and Group II had  patients who were provided with the 200ml of apple juice 2 hours before surgery. Inclusion criteria - age 18 to 60 years, ASA I, BMI <30kg/m2 , non abdominal surgeries under general anaesthesia. Exclusion criteria - gastroesophageal reflux disease, pregnancy and ASA II III and IV. Primary objective - comparing the gastric volume using ultrasound in both groups. Secondary objective - comparing pH in both the groups.