No restriction of oral food intake prior to nonemergent cardiac catheterization is as safe as the current traditional NPO [nothing by mouth] strategy, results from a large, single-center, randomized controlled trial showed.
"The rationale for keeping NPO after midnight has been to keep the stomach empty, to reduce gastric contents and acidity — which would reduce emesis — and eventually reduce the risk of aspiration," Dr. Mishra, a cardiologist at the Heart and Vascular Institute at Vidant Health in Greenville, N.C., said at the at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions virtual annual scientific sessions.
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