When it’s necessary to do a gastric wash
Gastric lavage is a technique that allows washing the inside of the stomach, eliminating contents that have not yet been absorbed by the body, so this procedure is usually used in cases of ingestion of toxic or irritating substances, for which there is no antidote.or no other form of treatment. Understand what to do immediately in case of poisoning.
- Ideally.
- Gastric lavage should be done within 2 hours of ingestion of the substance and should be performed in the hospital by a nurse or other trained health care professional to avoid complications such as aspiration of fluids into the lungs.
In most cases, gastric lavage is used to cleanse the stomach when high doses of substances or medications that may be toxic to the body are ingested, such as:
However, not all cases of overingestion of a substance require gastric lavage, the best way to know if this procedure is really necessary and what should be done to reduce the risk of complications is to consult the Toxicological Information Center at 0800 284 4343.
Less often, gastric lavage can also be used to empty your stomach before diagnostic tests, such as endoscopy.Learn more about endoscopy and when it’s finished.
Gastric lavage should be performed in the hospital by a nurse or other qualified health care professional During the procedure, the professional should follow these steps:
Normally, to achieve a correct gastric lavage it is necessary to use up to 2500 ml of physiological serum throughout the procedure, for children the amount of serum required can vary between 10 and 25 ml of serum per kg of weight, up to a maximum of 250 mL.
After washing, it is also advisable to insert between 50 and 100 grams of activated charcoal into the stomach, to avoid absorption of any remaining substance left in the stomach, for children this amount should be only 0.5 to 1 gram per kg of weight.
While gastric lavage is a vital technique for someone who has taken a very high dose of a toxic substance, it can also lead to complications, the most common is fluid aspiration in the lungs, which can end up causing pneumonia, for example.
To avoid this risk, the procedure should be performed by a nurse and in a sitting position, as there is a lower risk of fluid passing through the airways.Other complications that may occur include gastric bleeding, larynx spasms or perforation of the esophagus, which should be treated as soon as possible in the hospital.
The decision whether or not to perform gastric lavage should always be evaluated by a medical team, however, gastric lavage is proven in cases such as:
In addition, if surgery has been performed on the gastrointestinal tract, washing should also be properly evaluated, as the risk of complications is higher.