Preoperative Liquid carbohydrate intake improves blood sugar and fatigue after surgery: Study

Delhi: Patients undergoing surgery are often required to fast from midnight, while in some extreme cases patients are fasted for up to 24 hr prior to surgery. The main purpose of asking patients to undergo this prolonged fasting is to reduce the risk of aspiration.

Preoperative oral intake of liquid carbohydrate has a positive impact on postoperative blood sugar, thirst, and fatigue levels in patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery, finds a recent study in the Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology.

The study by GA Akbuğa and M Baser aimed to analyze the effects of preoperative oral intake of liquid carbohydrate on postoperative blood sugar, fasting-thirst, and fatigue levels in patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery.

For this purpose, the researchers performed a randomized controlled trial enrolling 82 patients who were scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery. The patients were divided into two groups: (1) those who consumed a carbohydrate-rich drink and (2) those not consuming anything after midnight.

Pre- and postoperative fasting-thirst (visual analog scale) and blood sugar levels were measured. Likewise, the Brief Fatigue Inventory was applied to patients 24 hours after surgery. 

Key findings of the study include:

 "Oral intake of liquid carbohydrate before spinal anesthesia was found to have positive effects on patients' postoperative blood glucose and thirst levels," concluded the authors. 

Reference:

The study titled, "Effect of preoperative oral liquid carbohydrate intake on blood glucose, fasting-thirst, and fatigue levels: a randomized controlled study," is published in the Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology.