Why Shouldn't We Eat Before Surgery?
Author: Ivan Red Jr.
Time for reading: ~1
minutes
Last Updated:
August 08, 2022
An anesthesiologist explains the dangers of eating before surgery and what is aspiration pneumonia.
Before performing surgery or anesthesia for almost any invasive procedure (opening the skin and / or penetrating body cavities), the patient should be warned: no food should be taken orally for 6-8 hours. before surgery.
In case the patient is very weak, a preparation for parenteral nutrition can be infused - most often carbohydrate (glucose, levulose) or protein (hydrolysin, alvesin) solutions for intravenous infusion.
The doctor's prescription to avoid oral food is an old and proven practice. In medicine, it is called nil per os - Latin for "nothing by mouth". The reason for such a prescription is the need to minimize the risk of aspiration - the entry of solid particles or gastric contents into the lungs by inhalation.
This is a real danger after invasive procedures. It happens that the patient vomits after the operation due to side effects or pain from the operation itself or as a reaction to the anesthetic administered. This can cause aspiration pneumonia .
In aspiration pneumonia caused by vomiting, gastric contents, including solid particles or corrosive stomach acids, enter the lungs and lead to severe infections of the lung tissue. This can be catastrophic , even for healthy patients.
It is easy for anesthesiologists to know if the stomach is empty. Immediately after intubation of the anesthetized patient (insertion of a breathing tube), the specialist applies another plastic tube reaching the stomach, with which he removes all the stomach contents. This is done to avoid aspiration pneumonia, but due to the small diameter of the tube, the procedure can be very difficult or impossible if the patient has recently eaten - it may contain solid particles that clog the tube.
For additional information we attach the following video: