Adherence
Current clinical guidelines recommend individualized perioperative management for GLP-1 RA users, with recent consensus shifting from mandatory discontinuation to risk-based assessment based on gastrointestinal symptoms and treatment duration.
Do not stop your GLP-1 medication on your own before surgery. Recent guidelines say you should likely keep taking it unless you have severe nausea or vomiting. Your surgical team will create a specific plan for you, possibly adjusting your fasting rules, to keep your blood sugar stable while minimizing lung risks.
Current preoperative assessment for patients treated with GLP-1 RAs emphasizes individualized evaluation based on the route of administration, duration of therapy, and presence of gastrointestinal symptoms, suggesting that tailored management according to patient-specific risk is more appropriate than a uniform prolongation of fasting periods.
Why this rating
Based on consensus statements from major anesthesia societies (ASA, BJA).
Source
Delayed gastric emptying induced by glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and its implications for perioperative risk during anesthesia
Donghee Kang et al. · The Korean Journal of Internal Medicine · 2026
DOI 10.3904/kjim.2025.277
More from this paper
- GLP-1 receptor agonists delay gastric emptying via peripheral and central nervous system pathways, creating a significant risk of retained gastric contents and pulmonary aspiration during anesthesia even when standard preoperative fasting guidelines are followed.Moderate
- Short-acting GLP-1 RAs cause more pronounced delays in gastric emptying than long-acting agents, although long-acting agents may still pose aspiration risks due to residual effects depending on dose and treatment duration.Moderate
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