Gastric emptying and drug absorption before surgery.

The rate of paracetamol absorption following oral administration has been used as a model of drug absorption and as an indirect estimate of the rate of gastric emptying before and after elective or emergency surgery in 13 adult patients. The rates of paracetamol absorption before and after surgery were not significantly different and compared well with results obtained previously in normal volunteers. This suggests that preoperative anxiety and pain did not delay gastric emptying in this group of patients.