Clinical Assessment of the Ultrasonographic Measurement of Antral Area for Estimating Preoperative Gastric Content and Volume

Abstract

The ultrasonographic measurement of antral CSA could be an important help for the anesthesiologist in minimizing the risk of pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents due to general anesthesia.

Anesthesiologists’ learning curves for bedside qualitative ultrasound assessment of gastric content: a cohort study

“…It could help to establish the risk of perioperative aspiration more precisely, both in a given individual and in different patient populations. 9,12,14,40 Practice guidelines are subject to revision as warranted by the evolution of medical knowledge, technology, and practice. 9,41 Factors such as current literature, expert and practitioner opinion, open forum commentary, and clinical feasibility data support these recommendations.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14] In these studies, either a certified sonographer or a single anesthesiologist with no specified previous training performed all the examinations. [11][12][13][15][16][17] The process of knowledge translation demands further research to confirm generalizability of these findings.…”

“…The reading material included research studies [11][12][13][14] and one educational article with a description of the technique. 19 Subsequently, the teaching proceeded with an interactive three-hour session consisting of a hands-on workshop and a live demonstration performed by the expert sonographer.…”

Focused ultrasound is the next step in perioperative care

“…2 In this case, the ultrasound examination revealed an unsuspected pericardial effusion. Ultrasound has been reported as a complementary tool during preoperative evaluation not only to assess cardiac function but also to detect pulmonary edema, identify a pleural effusion, examine the airway, 14 evaluate stomach content, 15 assess diaphragmatic motion, 16 and rule out deep vein thrombosis. 17 In a retrospective study, a group based in Melbourne Australia showed that patients admitted with hip fractures who underwent a focused transthoracic ultrasound had lower mortality than a control group.…”

Point-of-care ultrasound defines gastric content and changes the anesthetic management of elective surgical patients who have not followed fasting instructions: a prospective case series

“…[11][12][13][14][15][16] The aim of this prospective case series was to evaluate if the addition of point-of-care gastric ultrasound to standard patient assessment alters the stratification of aspiration risk and leads to changes in the anesthetic management of elective surgical patients who did not follow fasting instructions.…”