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Effects of fasting and preoperative feeding in children

Muslim Yurtcu1, Engin Gunel, Tahir Kemal Sahin

  • 1Department of Pediatric Surgery, Meram Medical School of Selcuk University, Konya 42080, Turkey. muslimyurtcu@hotmail.com

World Journal of Gastroenterology
|October 21, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Children can undergo surgery with shorter fasting periods. Feeding normal liquid food or a high-calorie diet up to 2 hours before elective surgery may help mitigate surgical stress in pediatric patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Surgery
  • Anesthesiology
  • Pediatric Nutrition

Background:

  • Prolonged fasting in children before surgery can lead to significant physiological stress.
  • Optimizing pre-operative feeding protocols is crucial for pediatric patient well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the safety and physiological impact of reduced fasting times in children undergoing surgery.
  • To investigate the effects of different feeding regimens (normal liquid food and high-calorie diet) on pre-operative stress markers.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective study of 80 children (1-10 years) with inguinoscrotal disorders.
  • Children were assigned to groups fed normal liquid food (NLF) or high-calorie diet (HCD) 2, 3, 4, or 5 hours before surgery.
  • Blood glucose, prealbumin, and cortisol levels were measured pre- and post-feeding, along with gastric residue volume.

Main Results:

  • Blood glucose levels were generally high, with an exception in the HCD-4h group.
  • No significant differences were observed in prealbumin levels across groups.
  • Elevated blood cortisol levels, indicative of stress, were noted in NLF-2h, HCD-2h, NLF-3h, and HCD-5h groups.

Conclusions:

  • Elective surgery may be tolerated by children fed up to 2 hours prior.
  • Shorter fasting intervals, particularly with NLF or HCD, might reduce surgical stress response in pediatric patients.
Abstract

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