Gastric Emptying During the Labour

Summary

Current recommendations permit the ingestion of all clear fluids (water, apple juice, black coffee..) during labour. However, regarding food during labour, the recommendations vary. British and European guidelines permit the ingestion of low-residue food during labour whilst guidelines from the United States prohibit having any solid food during labour. The reason for this variation in recommendations is the lack of data on gastric emptying during labour with a conservative approach adopted due to the fear of delayed gastric emptying increasing the risk of regurgitation and pulmonary aspiration in the case of general anaesthesia. This study aims, therefore, to evaluate if the gastric emptying of a light meal is slowed down during labour, using a validated, non-invasive ultrasound method, in four groups of women : Women in labour with epidural analgesia (Analgesia group), women in labor without any epidural analgesia (Parturient group), women in the third trimester of pregnancy (Pregnant group) and women who are not currently pregnant (Non-pregnant control group). The investigator propose the hypothesis that the gastric emptying of a light, solid meal is slowed by 30% during labour under epidural analgesia.

Conditions

• Pregnancy
• Healthy Volunteers
• Parturition

Interventions

OTHER

Ultrasound assessment of gastric emptying of a flavoured yoghourt.

Each participant will be placed on a table, in the semi-recumbent position with elevation of the head at 45° and a first ultrasound examination will be performed. After that, the participant will be invited to eat a test meal (flavoured yoghurt) in 5 minutes. An ultrasound examination of the antrum allowing measurement of the antral area will be performed at 15, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after the end of the ingestion of the test meal. The participant must stay in the semi-recumbent position during the total duration of the study. The non-invasive ultrasound measurement, of the antral cross-sectional area is performed using a Sonosite ultrasound equiped with a 2 -5.5MHz probe. The diameters (longitudinal D1 and anteroposterior D2) of the antrum are measured in the sagittal plane passing by the abdominal aorta and the left lobe of the liver. The value of the antral cross-sectional area is given by the formula : Antral area = π x D1 x D2 / 4.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hospices Civils de Lyon

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Lionel BOUVET, MD · Hospices Civils de Lyon

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

40 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-05-17

Primary Completion

2021-11-11

Completion

2021-11-11

Countries

• France

Study Locations