Ultrasonographic evaluation of gastric emptying after ingesting carbohydrate‐rich drink in young children: A randomized crossover study

Background A recent consensus statement in Europe has suggested that the fasting time for clear liquid in children can be shortened to 1 hour before a surgery. However, the study to show that 1‐hour fasting time for clear fluids is safe in young children is still lacking. This study aimed to investigate the gastric emptying time for carbohydrate‐rich drink and regular 5% glucose solution in children aged 3‐7 years. Methods After overnight fasting, individuals were randomly assigned to ingest 5 mL kg−1 of either carbohydrate‐rich drink or 5% glucose solution. One week later, the same subjects were asked to ingest the other one. Ultrasonography was performed to examine the gastric contents. Gastric antral cross‐sectional area was measured, and the gastric fluid volume was calculated before and after fluid ingestion within 120 minutes. The primary outcome was the gastric emptying time for both the clear fluids calculated using the antral cross‐sectional area and logarithms of gastric fluid volume. The degrees of thirst and hunger of two drinks were evaluated using a visual analogue scale as the secondary outcomes. Results Data from 16 individuals were analyzed. In the glucose solution group, the antral cross‐sectional area and logarithms of gastric fluid volume returned to baseline at 30 minutes after ingestion. However, in the carbohydrate‐rich drink group, the median [interquartile range; range] antral cross‐sectional area (3.69 [2.64‐5.15; 1.83‐8.93] cm2 vs 2.41 [2.10‐2.96; 1.81‐4.37] cm2, P