Gastric point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) during pregnancy and the postpartum period: a systematic review

Gastric point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) is emerging as a useful tool in the anaesthetist ’s arsenal as a means of evaluating the patient’s stomach contents before surgery. It enables assessment of the risk of pulmonary aspiration which is a serious complication of general anaesthesia and which has an incidence of 1:4000 in all elective surgeries.1 Pulmonary aspiration occurs more co mmonly in obstetric surgery, where the incidence may rise to 1:700 general anaesthetics.2 A UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) study also identified an incidence of 8% following failed intubation in obstetric surgery compared with 1% in matched controls.

Source: International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia - May 27, 2020 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: R. Howle, P. Sultan, R. Shah, P. Sceales, P. Van de Putte, S. Bampoe Tags: Review article Source Type: research