Research

Hormonal

GLP-1 receptor agonists delay gastric emptying and increase gastric accommodation, which contributes to satiety but poses a significant risk of aspiration during perioperative procedures, necessitating specific preoperative management guidelines.

If you are having surgery and take a weekly GLP-1 shot (like Ozempic or Wegovy), tell your surgeon and anesthesiologist. For elective surgery, you may need to stop the drug 4 weeks beforehand. If it's an emergency, they will check your stomach with an ultrasound and may give you a drug (erythromycin) to empty it. This is a new standard of care to prevent choking on stomach contents during anesthesia.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
GLP-1 increases gastric accommodation... Additionally, GLP-1 causes delay in gastric emptying... increased residual gastric content in patients receiving GLP-1 RAs increases the risk of aspiration in these patients.
Michael Camilleri et al. · The American Journal of Gastroenterology · 2023

Why this rating

Supported by gastric ultrasound studies and consensus guidelines from ASA and SPAQI.

Source

Effects of GLP-1 and Other Gut Hormone Receptors on the Gastrointestinal Tract and Implications in Clinical Practice

Michael Camilleri et al. · The American Journal of Gastroenterology · 2023

DOI 10.14309/ajg.0000000000002519

narrative_reviewCited 30×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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