Abstract
Background : To explore the effect of single oral dose of esomeprazole 20 mg, administered a night before surgery, on intragastric pH and volume in adult patients undergoing elective surgery by excluding cases contaminated with duodenogastric refluxate. Patients and Methods : This prospective, triple blind, randomised and placebo controlled clinical trial was conducted to explore the effect of single oral dose of esomeprazole 20 mg, administered a night before surgery, on intragastric pH and volume on 120 adult inpatients of either sex, American Society of Anaesthesiologist physical status I-II, and aged 15-70 years. The patients in Group C (control) received placebo while Group E (Esomeprazole) received esomeprazole orally at 9.00 pm, the night before elective surgery. On the day of surgery, the gastric contents were aspirated with a large bore, multi-orifice gastric tube passed through an endotracheal tube placed blindly in the oesophagus after tracheal intubation and analysed for pH, volume and the presence of bile salts. Results : Thirty nine samples (33%) out of 117 were contaminated with duodenal contents. Duodenogastric reflux significantly affected pH and volume in Group C (p value 0.0003 and 0.0016) and E (p value 0.0401 and 25 ml / kg) at the time of induction of anaesthesia excluding samples contaminated with duodenogastric reflux.