Ultrasound assessment of gastric content in elective surgery

Objective: To determine the prevalence of patients with ultrasound signs of a full stomach during surgery at the Sominé Dolo Hospital in Mopti. Methodology: Observational study investigated prospective, single-center over a period of one month include patients in surgery program aged 18 to 85 years. Our data was collected on individual survey sheets and analysed with the Epi info7 software. Result: Out of a total of 140 patients, 41 patients were included in our study, i.e. a frequency of 29.28%. The mean age of patients was 38 years +/-17. The average body mass index was 23+/- 4.65. Females predominated: 60.98% (n=25) compared to 39.02% (n=16) for males, with a sex ratio of 0.6/1. The ASA classification was rated at II in 51.22% of patients (n=21). The gastric antrum was visualized in 40 patients, i.e. an ultrasound sensitivity of 97.56%, of which seven (07) were difficult to see and not visualized in one patient. We found a relationship between high BMI and difficulty in visualizing gastric contents (P-value = 0.00001), but no relationship was found between BMI and Perlas score (P-Value = 0.75411). The Perlas score was rated at 0 in 85% (n=34), fluid content was found in 12.5% (n=5) of patients while one patient had solid content. Patients observed an estimated preoperative fasting duration of an average of 11 hours +/- 2.86. Conclusion: Despite the implementation of a preoperative fasting protocol, cases of full stomachs are still to be feared and the ultrasound at the bedside of patients is a simple, quick examination to best adjust the anesthesia protocol. Keywords: full stomach, gastric antrum, ultrasound, Perlas score, Mopti.