Preoperative fasting durations for adult elective surgical patients: Convenient for the professional, but detrimental to the patient? A narrative review

Abstract

Preoperative fasting is necessary in reducing the risk of aspiration of stomach contents when undergoing a procedure that requires anaesthesia. There are numerous guidelines based upon evidence-based practice that outline the safe duration of a fast prior to the induction of anaesthesia. Common practice however is to give advice that unnecessarily starves the patient leading to perioperative complications. There is a breadth of literature analysing the fasting durations of various institutions, with a consensus of fasting from midnight being the norm, and side effects of nausea and dehydration being unfortunate by-products of fasting. A review of the literature examines the continued poor compliance of evidenced-based practice.