Søreide E, Søreide J A, Holst-Larsen H, Steen P A
Department of Anaesthesia, Rogaland Central Hospital, Stavanger, Norway.
Br J Anaesth. 1993 Mar;70(3):360-2. doi: 10.1093/bja/70.3.360.
In 20 patients studied under general anaesthesia, we found good agreement between gastric fluid volumes aspirated blindly and total volumes determined by fibreoptic gastroscopy (mean under-estimation 6 ml (22%); range 0-50 ml). Gastric fluid acidity measurements using an electronic pH meter and pH indicator paper also provided results with good agreement (mean difference in pH 0.1; range -0.3 to 0.5). As the use of a standardized blind gastric aspiration technique and pH indicator paper is simpler and provided sufficiently accurate measurements for clinical study purposes, we think this method is preferable.
