NCT04410419

Carbohydrate Loading and Diabetes in Colorectal Surgery

In Individuals With Diabetes Undergoing Elective Colorectal Surgery, Is Carbohydrate Loading Preoperatively Safe? A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 71 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Alberta · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a large study that would assess the safety of carbohydrate drinks (i.e. juice) prior to elective colorectal surgery in patients with type 2 diabetes. Traditionally, prior to surgeries involving a general anesthetic, patients have been told not to eat or drink anything after midnight due to the risk of aspiration. More recent research have shown that it is safe to have clear fluids up to 2 hours before an operation and this is reflected in the current anesthesia clinical guidelines. Moreover, it has been shown that subjecting patients to a state of starvation causes stress on the body that may lead to complications such as poor wound healing, infections, and delayed return to bowel function. A sugar drink before surgery has been shown to be beneficial and can lead to decreased complication rates and decreased length of stay after surgery. However, it is currently not known if it is safe for patients with type 2 diabetes to have a sugar drink before their surgery since they have trouble processing sugars and a subset of patients with diabetes are at increased risk of aspiration due to delayed stomach emptying. This feasibility study is designed to answer the question of whether a large scale trial can be conducted examining the benefits of a pre-operative sugar drink in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Conditions

• Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
• Surgery
• Surgery--Complications

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT	Pre-operative carbohydrate drink	Carbohydrate drink containing 40g of carbohydrate to be consumed three hours prior to surgery

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-03-01
• Primary completion: 2024-12-31
• Completion: 2024-12-31
• First posted: 2020-06-01
• Last updated: 2025-08-21

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada