Short anesthesia without intravenous fluid therapy in children: Results of a prospective non‐interventional multicenter observational study

Background The German guidelines recommend that intravenous fluid therapy should not be mandatorily performed in children with short fasting times undergoing short anesthesia, but there is a lack of clinical studies including a large number of pediatric patients. Therefore, we performed a prospective non‐interventional multicenter observational study to evaluate the perioperative hemodynamic and metabolic stability of children undergoing short anesthesia without intravenous fluid therapy. Aims The primary aim was to assess the incidence of hypotension and the secondary aim was to assess the real preoperative fasting times, the incidence of hypoglycemia and the impact on ketone bodies and acid–base balance. Methods Children aged 1 month–18 years undergoing short anesthesia (<1 h) without intravenous fluid therapy were enrolled. Patient demographics, the surgical or diagnostic procedure performed, anesthesia, hemodynamic, laboratory data, and adverse events were documented using a standardized case report form. Results Four hundred and twenty seven children that were investigated at three pediatric centers from July 2021 to June 2022 (mean age 83.4 ± 58.9 months, body weight 27.9 ± 19.8 kg) were included in the analysis. The real preoperative fasting times were 14.2 ± 3.6 h for solids, 7.2 ± 3.5 h for milk and 5 ± 4.8 h for clear fluids. During the course of anesthesia, hypotension (<2.5th percentile) was detected in 3 of 427 cases (0.7%), hypoglycemia (glucose <3.0 mmol L −1 ) in 1 of 355 cases (0.3%), and ketosis (ketone bodies ≥0.6 mmol L −1 ) in 51 of 233 cases (21.9%). The occurrence of ketosis was associated with lower body weight ( p <.001) and longer fasting times for solids or milk ( p =.021), but not for clear fluids ( p =.69). Conclusions Our study supported the German guidelines recommendation that perioperative intravenous fluid therapy is not mandatory in children beyond the neonatal period with short pre‐ and postoperative fasting times undergoing short anesthesia (<1 h).