Immediate discontinuation of intravenous fluids after common surgical procedures

Intravenous (IV) fluids and nasogastric (MG) intubation can be discarded safely in some abdominal operations, but this practice seems rare in our community.

A University teaching hospital in Eastern Saudi Arabia.

To determine the feasibility of the practice in our setting and increase clinicians' awareness of it and encourage its general adoption.

A prospective verification study in consecutive ASA Classes I and II adult patients scheduled for four commonly performed operations.

The practice was considered successful if the patient accepted early oral fluids and did not require re-insertion of IV line.

The operations studied were appendicectomy (44), laparoscopic cholecystectomy (35), herniorrhaphy (19) and diagnostic laparoscopy (2). The patients' mean age was 34.1 years (range 14 to 68); 60% were males. The overall success rate was 98%. Thus postoperative IV fluids proved to be unnecessary in these patients; cost savings were achieved and treating teams were freed to focus on other patients who truly required IV fluids.

In our setting also, routine IV fluids are unnecessary and can be discarded safely after appendecectomy, cholecystectomy and herniorrhaphy in adults.