Studies of gastric content: comparison of two methods.

Abstract

In 20 patients studied under general anaesthesia, we found good agreement between gastric fluid volumes aspirated blindly and total volumes determined by fibreoptic gastroscopy (mean under-estimation 6 ml (22%); range 0-50 ml). Gastric fluid acidity measurements using an electronic pH meter and pH indicator paper also provided results with good agreement (mean difference in pH 0.1; range -0.3 to 0.5). As the use of a standardized blind gastric aspiration technique and pH indicator paper is simpler and provided sufficiently accurate measurements for clinical study purposes, we think this method is preferable.