Reducing Fasting Time in Children

Patients are asked to be fasted for certain period of time before sedation to reduce the risk of pulmonary aspiration. However, fasting can be harmful, especially in children who has smaller reserves of energy and fluids compared to the adults. Prolonged fasting may increase nausea, vomiting, dehydration, and hypoglycemia. Therefore, it is important to minimize prolonged fasting time in pediatric patients.This study is aimed to investigate the safety of minimal fasting time (2 hours) compared to the standard fasting time (4 hours) with gastric ultrasound.

Inclusion Criteria:pediatric patients aged under 36 monthsscheduled for elective cardiac echocardiographyExclusion Criteria:patients with disease that delay gastric emptyingpatients taking medication that delay gastric emptyingstructural deformities, or abnormalities that interrupt gastric ultrasoundrefuse to participate in the studysedation is failed or impossible