How do trauma surgeons deal with the fact that the patients they operate on probably haven’t fasted the night before given that trauma patients don’t know in advance they’ll be having surgery?

Question

I know that with elective surgeries, patients have to fast the night before to prevent vomiting when they go under anesthetic, but I was wondering how this concern is navigated in trauma or emergency surgeries in which patients definitely didn’t fast the night before? Do they just try to deal with the vomit or is there a special procedure to prevent vomiting from occurring?

In: 1727

Answer 1

**ELI5 Simple answer:** We give anesthetic drugs and put in a breathing tube very quickly. The tube includes a small balloon at the end which is inflated once the tube is in the windpipe. This balloon creates a barrier that prevents stomach contents (stomach acid etc.) from ending up in the lungs.

We do keep a suction-wand (like at the dentist) on hand if there seems to be vomit or anything else visible.