Fasting - Medical Application

Medical Application

See also: Fasting and surgery and Body cleansing

Fasting is often indicated prior to surgery or other procedures that require general anesthetics, because of the risk of pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents after induction of anesthesia (i.e., vomiting and inhaling the vomit, causing life-threatening aspiration pneumonia). Additionally, certain medical tests, such as cholesterol testing (lipid panel) or certain blood glucose measurements require fasting for several hours so that a baseline can be established. In the case of cholesterol, failure to fast for a full 12 hours (including vitamins) will guarantee an elevated triglyceride measurement.

People near the end of their lives sometimes consciously refuse food and/or water. The term in the medical literature is patient refusal of nutrition and hydration.

Read more about this topic:  Fasting

Famous quotes containing the words medical and/or application:

    “The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic—in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea—known to medical science is work.”
    —Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)

    “Most people, no doubt, when they espouse human rights, make their own mental reservations about the proper application of the word “human.””
    —Suzanne Lafollette (1893–1983)