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CompletedNCT03842527Updated Jul 8, 2020

Gastric Voume Assessment for Aspiration Risk in OB ERAS Patients

An interventional study of Ultrasound in Cesarean Section, sponsored by University of Calgary. Completed at 2 sites in Canada. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-07-08.

Sponsored by University of Calgary · Not applicable, Interventional, and Screening

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
32
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

In recent years, human and animal studies have found that carbohydrate-loading prior to surgery leads to improved response to surgical stress and improved postoperative well-being when compared to traditional fasting guidelines. Such positive findings have lead to the increased use of preoperative intake of carbohydrate rich drinks prior to elective surgeries.

However, one of the biggest risks during surgery when a patient is asleep is having stomach contents come up into the lungs. For this reason, a stomach that is empty or has minimal amount of contents is safest. Historically, patients have been instructed not to eat or drink for 8 hours before surgery because it was thought to lower the risk of having fluid or contents in the stomach. This is the current practice patients are asked to follow before undergoing a C-section. However, non-pregnant patients undergoing other surgeries are instructed to have carbohydrate-rich drinks because of the potential benefits. Using ultrasound, the abdomen can be simply scanned to see if there are stomach contents present before surgery. This can allow for the potential determination of what the aspiration risk may be.

What the investigators want to do is look at the safety of using carbohydrate-loading in patients having a C-section. The investigators want to make sure that patients who follow carbohydrate-loading by having a clear, sugary drink 3 hours before a C-section are not at greater risk of having a large amount of stomach contents and be at higher risk of aspirating. This will be done by taking an ultrasound scan of the stomach that will tell the investigators if there are contents in the stomach and whether there is a risk of aspiration.

Patients having an elective C-section will be randomized into two groups. The first group will follow carbohydrate-loading by having a drink of apple juice or cranberry juice cocktail the night before (800mL) and 3 hours before (400mL) the C-section. The second group will follow standard practice of not eating or drinking less than 8 hours prior to surgery. An anesthesiologist will ultrasound the stomach 1 hour before the scheduled procedure time. The first ultrasound will be completed in the supine position (lying on back). The second will be done in the right lateral decubitus position (lying on right side). This should not take more than 5-10 minutes total.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cesarean Section

Keywords

  • Gastric Ultrasound
  • Carbohydrate Loading
03

In context

Lead sponsor

University of Calgary is the lead sponsor of 686 studies on the registry; 189 are open to participants now.

Of its 10 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 2 (20%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Non-laboring pregnant women
  • ≥36 weeks gestational age
  • scheduled elective cesarean delivery
  • ≥18 years of age
  • ASA physical status I to III
  • weight 50 to 120 kg
  • height ≥150 cm
  • Ability to understand the rationale of the study assessments

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • multiple gestation
  • abnormal anatomy of the upper gastrointestinal tract
  • gestational diabetes or pre-existing diabetes mellitus
  • previous surgical procedures on the esophagus, stomach, or upper abdomen
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Screening
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Care provider, Investigator)
Enrollment
32 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Standard Fasting Group

    Ultrasound scan of gastric antrum 1 hour prior to procedure. Patients assigned to this group will follow standard fasting procedures of no eating or drinking 8 hours prior to C-section.

    Device: Ultrasound

  • Experimental
    Carbohydrate Loading Group

    Ultrasound scan of gastric antrum 1 hour prior to procedure. Patients assigned to this group must stop eating 8 hours prior to their scheduled C-section time. The night before their C-section they must drink 800mL of 100% apple juice (not from concentrate) OR 800mL of cranberry juice cocktail, not both The day of their C-section, starting 3 hours before surgery and to be finished 2 hours before surgery time, patients must drink 400mL of 100% apple juice OR 400mL of cranberry juice cocktail, not both Please note: * The apple juice must be 100% juice, not from concentrate * The cranberry juice cocktail must not be plain cranberry juice

    Device: Ultrasound

Interventions

  • DeviceUltrasound

    Gastric ultrasound of the stomach antrum to assess contents 1 hour prior to C-section surgery. Scans will be completed in both supine (lying on back) and right lateral decubitus (positions) positions. The completion of both scans will take 5-10 minutes total

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Grade 2 antrum

    Clear fluid is evident in antrum in both supine and right lateral decubitus scanning positions

    Time frame: 1 hour prior to C-section delivery

Secondary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Grade 0 antrum

    Antrum appears empty in both supine and right lateral decubitus scanning positions

    Time frame: 1 hour prior to C-section

  2. Incidence of Grade 1 antrum

    Antrum appears empty in supine position, but clear fluid is visible in right lateral decubitus position

    Time frame: 1 hour prior to C-section

  3. Cross-sectional antral area

    Cross-sectional area measurement of the gastric antrum

    Time frame: 1 hour prior to C-section

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Peter Lougheed Centre
    Calgary, Alberta T1Y 6J4, Canada
  • Foothills Medical Centre
    Calgary, Alberta T2N 2T9, Canada
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 8, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03842527
Lead sponsor
University of Calgary
Responsible party
Heather Hurdle (Anesthesiologist, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, University of Calgary) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 15, 2019
Start date
Feb 11, 2019
Primary completion
Feb 28, 2020
Completion
Feb 28, 2020
Last update
Jul 8, 2020

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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