Gastric fluid measurement by blind aspiration in paediatric patients: A gastroscopic evaluation

Purpose Numerous investigators have estimated gastric fluid volume using blind aspiration through multi-onficed catheters, but none have confirmed the validity of this technique in infants and children. We sought to validate the accuracy of this technique in a fasted paediatric population by using gastroscopy. Data from several studies were then combined to generate a gastric fluid volume frequency distribution for healthy paediatric patients fasted for surgery.