Summary Two hundred healthy, unpremedicated children, ages 1–10 years, scheduled for elective outpatient surgery were studied in order to examine the effect of minimizing preoperative fasting on perioperative blood glucose concentrations in paediatric patients. None of the patients ingested solids after midnight. On the day of surgery, the children were assigned to one of two groups. Group A children (n= 113) were not allowed any liquids for at least 6 h prior to surgery (NPO). Children in Group B (n= 87) ingested 10 ml·kg−1 of apple juice 2–4 h prior to the induction of anaesthesia. All patients received lactated Ringer's solution intraoperatively, unless BG at induction was < 50 mg·dl−1 (2.8 m·mol·l−1) in which case dextrose 2.5% in lactated Ringer's solution was administered. None of the patients who received apple juice was hypoglycaemic during induction of anaesthesia. However, two children in the NPO group had blood glucose values ± 50 mg·dl−1 (2.8 m·mol·l−1) at the time of induction of anaesthesia. Thirteen (11%) patients in Group A and 6 (7%) patients in Group B showed either no change or a further decrease in their postoperative BG concentration as compared with their induction values. Two of 43 patients in Group A and 2 of 41 patients in Group B had gastric fluid volumes > 0.4 ml/kg. All patients in both groups had gastric pH < 2.5. This study shows that gastric fluid volume and pH following a 2–4 h fast are not different from the values measured in children who were subjected to a traditional fasting period of 6 h or longer. Moreover, apple juice consumed 2–4 h prior to surgery neither buffers gastric pH nor does it modify intraoperative glucose homeostasis in children.

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to changes in PaCO 2 between 27-50mmHg remains intact during propofol anaesthesia in healthy individuals. Our absolute CBF values are similar to those previously reported during fixed dose propofol anaesthesia but are lower than those we haye recorded during propofol-N20 anaesthesia ~,z. Similarly, the slope of CBF-PaCO 2 relationship is less than during propofol-N20 anaesthesia. These differences may be explained by either the c e r e b r o v a s o d i l a t i n g e f f e c t of N20 or the quantity of propofol used. During hypocapnia, CBF was low, but there were no changes clinically or in the evoked potentials to suggest ischaemia. Propofol may therefore reduce the CBF threshold for cerebral isohaemia as assessed by evoked potentials.