Preoperative fasting state in patients undergoing elective surgery

Preoperative fasting and glycaemia states were studied in 77 patients undergoing elective surgery after 12:00 hours at Khartoum Teaching Hospital. Thirty one patients [40%] took their last oral feed before 16:00 hours the day before surgery and 14 patients [19%] were fasting for more than 18 hours. In six patients [7.8%] the preoperative blood sugar at the time of induction of general anaesthesia was less than 3 mmol/L and in one patient it was 1.6 mmol/L. Patients scheduled for elective surgery in the afternoon may be prone to latent hypoglycaemia and should therefore be encouraged to have their evening meal the day before surgery