TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Gastric Lavage A1 - Lu, Jenny J. A1 - Fernandez, Rosaura A2 - Reichman, Eric F. Y1 - 2018 N1 - T2 - Reichman's Emergency Medicine Procedures, 3e AB - Gastric lavage is a method of gastrointestinal decontamination, performed in the setting of an acute poisoning by ingestion, to decrease the absorption of substances in the stomach. This technique was first described in 1812 and has been used for nearly 200 years.1 It was repopularized in the 1950s and 1960s and thrived during the heyday of the “tricyclic era” of the 1970s and 1980s. The use of gastric lavage in the Emergency Department has decreased greatly in modern toxicology. Various sources continue to reiterate the potentially serious complications with this procedure. Trends toward evidence-based medicine and the growing body of experimental and clinical data point to the limited efficacy of gastric lavage. Gastric lavage was performed in approximately 10.3% of all ED-treated poisoning cases between 1998 and 2003, a decrease from 18.7% during the period of 1993 through 1997.2 The increasing use of other modalities for gut decontamination (e.g., activated charcoal) has further limited the role of gastric lavage.1,3 The American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (AACT) states that “gastric lavage should not be performed routinely, if at all, for the treatment of poisoned patients.”4 SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/29 UR - accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1159799238 ER -