NEW ORLEANS — Last week we had an update about those popular weight loss and diabetes injections so many people are using.
A study found that they helped lower the risk of heart disease by 20 percent. Now there is a new finding, and doctors say this precaution could be life-saving.
Semaglutide is the game-changing weight loss and diabetes medication, helping patients lose and keep weight off more easily. The compounded versions make it more affordable and assessable. So, now with more people using it, doctors, are discovering a new issue when patients need anesthesia.
“We want to prevent something called aspiration, and aspiration is when the food, or water, or stomach contents can come up and go into your lungs and that could ultimately cause damage to your lungs, and infection which could make you really sick,” said Dr. Shauna Levy, Medical Director of Tulane’s Bariatric and Weight Loss Center.
As a surgeon, Dr. Levy explains that your stomach should be empty when you are sedated. That is why doctors tell you to stop eating, or drinking anything the night before a procedure. Semaglutide is supposed to make the contents of your stomach empty more slowly.
“And so what that means is, food that you might have eaten a day, or two, or several days ago, might still be in your stomach at time of surgery,” said Dr. Levy.
E.R. physician Dr. Mace Scott has more than a thousand patients on semaglutide at Chronos in Metairie, and says he's telling patients to take precautions before both general anesthesia or a lighter sedation.
“This is something you always want to talk over with the physician who is doing the procedure, long before you do the procedure,” said Dr. Mace Scott, Owner and Medical Director of Chronos Body, Health & Wellness.
And a digestive system that is not empty could interfere with a GI screening procedure, like a colonoscopy.
“It's important that your GI doc knows that you're on these medicines, because the preps may not work as well. You really want to get off of this medicine, like I said, at least a week, if not longer, before doing a procedure like that,” warned Dr. Scott.
“From what I've seen from the American Society of Anesthesiologists, is still one week, but I think what's very clear is that we don't know. And so that's why anesthesiologists want you to stop the medication, even earlier than we originally thought,” added Dr. Levy.
Some doctors will want to do an ultrasound before surgery, to make sure your stomach is empty. But they all agree that communication is key.
So, if you have surgery in the next two to three weeks, and you're on one of these medicines semaglutide, please make that you talk to your doctor,” advised Dr. Corey Hébert, a pediatrician and Medical Correspondent for WWL-TV News.
Because this complication can be life-threatening, before a procedure, you should not only talk to the surgeon about your medications, but to the anesthesiologist as well.