• Tapas Bhattacharyya, Debabrata Sarbapalli, Ranabir Pal, Ujjal Sarkar, Sumit Kar, Kanak Kanti Kundu, and Forhad Akhtar Zaman.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (IPGME&R), Kolkata, India.
• Saudi J Anaesth. 2011 Jan 1; 5 (1): 67-72.

Background And AimConcern about the grim nature of postoperative acid aspiration syndrome grew among the anesthesiologist over the years warranting the need for pre-emptive intervention. The aim of the study is to compare the effects of preoperative oral ranitidine versus pantoprazole given in regulating gastric pH in elective surgery.MethodsThis prospective, parallel group, controlled, randomized, single-blind study was conducted at a tertiary care postgraduate teaching institute at Kolkata, involving 120 participants of either sex, aged 18-60 years of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I and II, who were scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia lasting for more than 2 h. The participants were divided into three groups. In group A (n=40) participants received placebo tablet, in group B (n=40) participants received ranitidine tablet while in group C (n=40), participants received pantoprazole tablet and their gastric pH estimated serially.ResultsThe participants in the three groups were comparable in terms of age, sex, body weight, duration of surgery and type of surgery distribution. In regard to changes in gastric pH trends, there was no statistically significant difference between serial pH values in group A (Friedman test; P>0.05) and group C participants. (P>0.05). However, the mean preoperative gastric pH values (7.140±.7652) were significantly lower than mean pH values (7.253±.7514) after 2 h postoperatively in group B participants (P<0.05).ConclusionFrom the observations and analyses of the present study, it can be inferred that ranitidine is more effective than pantoprazole to raise the gastric pH for prevention of aspiration pneumonitis.

This article appears in the collection: Is preoperative ranitidine effective at reducing induction aspiration?.

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