Gastric lavage after ingestion of excessive amounts of a drug/poison--yes or no? If yes, at what time intervals from ingestion? On one side stand some authors who emphasize the complications, contraindications, and low yield of this procedure. These authors recommended that gastric lavage should be performed only within 30-60 minutes after ingestion of toxic doses of a drug/poison. Later lavage usually has no clinical benefit. On the other side stand some other authors who recommend gastric lavage in patients as late as 6 hours after intoxication. In some cases, when the ingested substance slows gastric emptying, they even recommend lavage until 24 hours after intoxication. Based on our experience, it is necessary to support strongly the second group of the authors and recommend the extension of the time interval when to perform gastric lavage in intoxication.
Keywords: gastric lavage - intoxication - guidelines..