[Intermittent postoperative gastric aspiration. New equipment (author's transl)]

Gastric suction is prescribed routinely by some, even though it is responsible for complications which are sometimes extremely serious, such as haemorrhagic gastritis or even perforation. It is indicated in all cases of postoperative gastric ileus or of stenosis causing marked dilatation of the stomach. However, experience would tend to show that in addition to problems immediately secondary to the presence of the tube in the gastric lumen, it sometimes leads to a false sense of security since the apertures of the tube tend to suck in the mucosa, giving rise to a suction-like effect whilst the stomach remains full of fluid. In order to overcome this disadvantage, we have designed an apparatus which varies the times of suction over a selected period. It fills the troublesome role previously filled by nursing staff in confirming the satisfactory function of gastric tubes. Thus not only does the tube not become blocked but gastric transit is restored more rapidly which not only leads to savings in the cost of intensive care but offers additional technical security.