Anesthesiologists warn that taking Ozempic and similar drugs before surgery can be dangerous.Photo:Mario Tama/Getty
Mario Tama/Getty
Ozempic and similar drugs can cause complications during surgery, theAmerican Society of Anesthesiologistsrecently warned.
That’s becausesemaglutideand liraglutide — the key ingredients in Ozempic, Wegovy and other similar drugs — are GLP-1 receptor agonists, which can delay food digestion if taken for extended periods of time.
“Based on recent anecdotal reports, there are concerns that delayed gastric emptying from GLP-1 agonists can increase the risk of regurgitation and pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents during general anesthesia and deep sedation,” according to the ASA.
Put more simply, “the food coming up out of the stomach and getting down into the lungs is a major safety concern for anesthesiologists and has been for over a hundred years,” Dr. Michael Champeau, ASA president and adjunct clinical professor at Stanford University, toldHealth.
Ozempic and similar drugs can impact the effects of fasting before undergoing anesthesia.Getty
Getty
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“That’s why we are such sticklers about people fasting before surgery to be sure their stomach is empty.”
However, doctors say you don’t need to stop the medication completely. In fact, it’s often enough to just skip a dose.
“Hold these drugs either the day before or day of the procedure. For patients on weekly dosing, it is recommended to hold the dose for a week,” says the ASA.
It’s also important to note that that guidance extends only to elective procedures, and not emergency situations. “For patients requiring urgent or emergent procedures, proceed and treat the patient as ‘full stomach’ and manage accordingly,” says the ASA.
The organization decided to address the issue after “we started hearing those [stories] frequently enough and thought we need to look at this closely,” Dr. Champeau toldHealth, adding that they had reports from anesthesiologists of patients who adhered to the fasting requirement but were still vomiting pre-surgery or had food in their stomachs during a procedure.
Because these drugs are still relatively new, “they haven’t done studies on how long it actually takes for the stomach to be empty after taking a GLP-1 agonist, so there are a lot of areas where we might be able to give more precise guidance if we have more science," said Dr. Champeau.
“Patient safety is a top priority for Novo Nordisk, and we take all reports about adverse events from use of our medicines very seriously,” the company said in a statementto CNBC.
source: people.com
