[Health Science] Why do we not eat or drink before anesthesia?

The day before the operation, the anesthesiologist will conduct a preoperative visit with the patient. In addition to asking the patient's basic condition, the anesthesiologist will specifically emphasize the issue of fasting from food and water before the operation. Some patients often complain or even secretly eat and drink, which causes the operation to fail to proceed as scheduled. So why fasting from food and water?

Under normal physiological conditions, the lower esophageal sphincter at the junction of the esophagus and stomach in the human body acts as a gate to prevent the contents of the stomach, such as gastric acid and food, from refluxing into the esophagus and mouth. However, when the patient is under anesthesia, the esophageal sphincter will become relaxed, and the gate at the lower end of the esophagus will also lose its function at this time. The various protective reflexes of the patient's body, such as swallowing and coughing reflexes, are inhibited to a certain extent at this time. If the patient does not fast and drink before surgery as prescribed by the doctor, the contents of the stomach will easily reflux into the throat and even into the airway. At this time, the cough reflex of the patient is suppressed by the effect of the drug, and the foreign body entering the trachea cannot be cleared by the cough reflex. Therefore, food and gastric acid will enter the lungs, causing aspiration pneumonia. If the food residue is large in volume or large in quantity, it will block the airway, causing suffocation and threatening the patient's life safety. Therefore, the purpose of fasting and drinking before surgery is to reduce the volume of gastric contents and avoid aspiration caused by reflux of gastric contents during the perioperative period.

The anesthesiologist will also develop a personalized preoperative preparation plan based on the specific situation of each patient. Therefore, for your perioperative safety, be sure to follow the doctor's instructions!

The article comes from Tangshan Second Hospital--Shen Hailin

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