British journal of anaesthesia
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Point-of-care gastric ultrasound is an emerging tool to assess gastric content and volume at the bedside. The examination includes both a qualitative and a quantitative component. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of an existing model for predicting gastric volume in severely obese subjects (BMI >35 kg m-2). ⋯ Our results suggest that the existing mathematical model to determine gastric fluid volume based on sonographic assessment performs well in severely obese individuals.
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Preoperative identification of high-risk surgical patients might help to reduce postoperative morbidity and mortality. Using a patient's predicted 30 day mortality to plan postoperative high-dependency unit (HDU) care after elective colorectal surgery might be associated with reduced postoperative morbidity. ⋯ Planned postoperative critical care was associated with a lower rate of complications after elective colorectal surgery.