Ch Tahir Mahmood, Riaz Hussain, Tahir Nazeer, Nasrullah Khan Aziz.
Gastric residual volume in adults; comparison of erythromycin and metoclopramide as prokinetic agents.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;5(4):791-5.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of pre-operative erythromycin and metoclopromide on gastric residual volume in patients undergoing elective surgery and effectiviness of erythromycin as alternative of metoclopromide. Methods: In this experimental study 120 patients of ASA P1 & P2 status, age 17 to 50 years of both sex undergoing general anaesthesia for elective surgery were selected and divided in two groups (60 each) and asked not to eat solid food 8 hours, and liquids 3 hours. No premedication was given. Group I received oral metoclopramide 10mg 2 hours before surgery with 10ml of water. Group II received oral erythromycin 250mg 2 hours before surgery with 10ml of water. Blind aspiration through (18F) orogastric tube done after induction of general anaesthesia with 50 cc syringe and volume were recorded on proforma. Results: Group I (Metoclopamide) had mean gastric fluid volume 11.07 + 6.68 ml and group II (erythromycin) 8.32 + 5.76. The P value was .017 which is statistically significant. Conclusion: Both drugs reduce gastric fluid volume but the effect of erythromycin (250mg) is more pronounced than metoclopramide (10mg) and can be used as an alternative to metoclopramide

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