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. 2003 Jul 22;3(1):1.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2342-3-1.

Is fasting a necessary preparation for abdominal ultrasound?

Tariq Sinan  1 , Hans Leven, Mehraj Sheikh
Affiliations

Is fasting a necessary preparation for abdominal ultrasound?

Tariq Sinan et al. BMC Med Imaging. .

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of fasting on the technical success of abdominal ultrasound examination. METHODS: In a randomized, prospective study, 150 patients for abdominal ultrasound were divided into two groups of 75 patients each with instructions to fast for six hours or have normal breakfast respectively. RESULT: The technical success of the abdominal ultrasound performed by radiologists blinded to the instruction did not differ significantly between the groups. CONCLUSION: It appears that routine fasting before abdominal ultrasound is not necessary.

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