The Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists provides tailored practice guidelines for perioperative fasting and feeding to minimize aspiration risk, specifically considering the diverse dietary and cultural habits of the South Asian population.
PREAMBLE Preoperative fasting involves being nil by mouth before surgical procedures requiring sedation or anaesthesia.1 In the postoperative period, complete avoidance of oral dietary intake is practiced, till recovery of bowel function for abdominal surgeries.2 Impairment or abolition of airway reflexes following deep sedation or anaesthesia can lead to pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents.3 The ideal condition for minimising the risk of regurgitation and aspiration is an empty stomach before deep sedation or anaesthesia, which may be impossible to achieve due to the continuous gastric secretory activity along with impaired physiology due to various aetiologies encountered in the preoperative period. 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Dongare et al. (Wed,) studied this question.