Ultrasound assessment of gastric contents prior to placental delivery: A prospective multicentre cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There is ongoing debate regarding the optimal general anaesthetic technique for manual removal of the placenta after vaginal delivery. Using ultrasound examination of the gastric antrum, this study aimed to assess the change in gastric contents during vaginal delivery and to determine the prevalence of stomach at risk for pulmonary aspiration in the immediate postpartum period before placental delivery. METHODS: In this prospective multicentre cohort study, antral ultrasonography was performed at full cervical dilatation within the thirty minutes preceding the beginning of expulsive efforts and after vaginal birth, before placental delivery. High-risk gastric content was defined as the visualisation of any solid content in the antrum or antral cross-sectional area in the semi-recumbent position (SR-CSA) > 608 mm². RESULTS: Twenty-six women were included and analysed. There was a significant decrease in both the proportion of patients with solid gastric content and the SR-CSA between the two-ultrasound examinations. Twenty-one patients (80.8%) exhibited a decrease in the SR-CSA during vaginal delivery. The prevalence of stomach at risk for pulmonary aspiration was significantly lower after vaginal delivery than before vaginal delivery (23.1% vs. 57.7%, P = 0.0004). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that gastric emptying is at least partially preserved during vaginal birth. Nevertheless, almost a quarter of women did have high-risk gastric content in the immediate postpartum period. Point-of-care antral ultrasonography may be of interest for the fast assessment of the gastric content status when a general anaesthesia is required for manual removal of retained placenta.

Noninvasive ventilation during spontaneous breathing anesthesia: an observational study using electrical impedance tomography.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) during spontaneous breathing anesthesia on functional residual capacity and ventilation distribution. DESIGN: Prospective and observational study. SETTING: Operating room, military teaching hospital. PATIENTS: Eighteen adult patients submitted to digestive endoscopic procedures under spontaneous breathing anesthesia. INTERVENTIONS: Anesthetic management was standardized. Patients were submitted to combined digestive endoscopic procedures (gastric fibroscopy and colonoscopy) under spontaneous breathing anesthesia in lateral decubitus position. Anesthesia was induced with propofol intravenous 1 mg/kg. Repeated boluses of propofol were administered according to the patients' clinical needs during endoscopic procedures. Ventilation distribution and functional residual capacity were assessed by electrical impedance tomography. MEASUREMENTS: Ventilation distribution was assessed by electrical impedance changes in left and right lung, and functional residual capacity changes were evaluated by measurement of end-expiratory lung impedance changes. Measures were performed before anesthesia induction, 5 minutes after anesthesia induction during gastric fibroscopy, at the end of gastric fibroscopy, 5 minutes after NIV application during colonoscopy, and at the end of colonoscopy. MAIN RESULTS: In awake patients, tidal volume was primarily distributed to the dependent lung (57.5% vs 43.1%; P=.009). After anesthesia induction, we observed a shift of ventilation to the nondependent lung (43.1% before anesthesia, 58.9% after anesthesia; P=.002) and marked decrease in end-expiratory lung impedancemetry of -1.68UI (4.47). Noninvasive ventilation application resulted in a significant increase of end-expiratory lung impedancemetry of 1.33 (6.49) (P=.005) but did not impact ventilation distribution. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that NIV application in pressure support mode during spontaneous breathing anesthesia increased functional residual capacity. Other studies are needed to evaluate the clinical impact of this technique during anesthesia, especially in patients with poor respiratory conditions.