Evaluation of incidence of stomach fullness in elective surgical patients and investigation of associated factors: Prospective observational study"

Objective: Although sufficient fasting period is recommended to prevent pulmonary aspiration in general anesthesia, it's known that the fasting periods specified in the guidelines do not guarantee adequate gastric emptying. The risk factors associated with full stomach and pulmonary aspiration are not well-defined due to its low incidence, underreporting of complications and that not every pulmonary aspiration may cause overt clinical signs. This study aimed to evaluate gastric fullness with ultrasonography and to reveal patient-related factors associated with full stomach in patients who are scheduled for elective surgery. Patients and Methods: Following approval of the Local Ethics Committee, patients scheduled for elective surgery between October 2020 and December 2021 were included in the study. Risk factors were questionned in the preoperative preparation room. Afterwards, gastric ultrasonography was performed. Results: Data from a total of 404 patients were analyzed. Ultrasonographic evaluation detected some content in 65 patients. A total of 11 patients were evaluated as full stomach (3.9% solid content, 2 patients >1.5 ml/kg liquid content). There was no correlation between patient characteristics and incidence of full stomach. A relationship was found between early satiety and constipation and increased incidence of full stomach. Conclusion: No objective risk factor associated with a full stomach was found in this study. We believe that the evaluation of gastric contents by ultrasonography is a practical technique that can be performed in a shorter time compared with the questioning of risk factors. 2022, 72 pages Key words: Gastric ultrasonography, gastric volume, gastric conten