Why is fasting necessary before surgery?
When patients receive anesthesia for surgery, they become very relaxed and sleepy. When patients are this sleepy, the muscles of the stomach and throat which normally stop food from coming up into the throat, and then going down into the windpipe or trachea, and then into the lungs, are also relaxed. When patients get food or liquid into their lungs from the stomach, this can cause pneumonia or even death. To minimize the risk of this happening, patients are asked not to eat or drink for a certain length of time before surgery. If the stomach is therefore empty, the risk of anything coming up from the stomach and getting into the lungs is extremely low. Anesthesia is therefore much safer.
