Evaluation of blood sugar changes before and after anesthesia of elective surgeries with usual fluid therapy methods

In the absence of sugar-containing fluids in fluid therapy during anesthesia of prolonged surgeries, the amount of blood sugar before and after the surgery has a significant difference. Regarding the lack of sugar in the fluids infused during anesthesia and the duration of NPO and the surgery, there is an increased risk of hypoglycemia during and after the surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the blood sugar changes before and after elective surgeries that use the usual fluid therapy (no sugar).
It was a descriptive-analytic design study. One hundred patients with an ASA class and an elective surgery with less than 2 hours duration randomly participated into the study. The patients divided into male and female groups with NPO duration of 8-10 h, 10-12 h and more than 12 h and two age groups of 15-30 and 30-45 years old. The blood sugar was measured 15 minutes prior to the onset of surgery and 15 minutes after the end of the operation. Data was analyzed by SPSS using Paired and Independent Samples T-test.
The blood sugar at the end of the surgery was significantly higher than its amount before the onset of the operation and even without using dextrose-containing fluids during anesthesia and patients NPO condition, hypoglycemia was not observed. In this study, age, gender and NPO duration did not have a significant effect on blood sugar before and after the surgery.
Using dextrose-containing fluids during fluid therapy of elective surgeries is unnecessary and only monitoring the blood sugar during prolonged surgeries is recommended in order to prevent hypoglycemia and its complications.