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- Patients should pause taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic before surgery, per new medical guidance.
- The drugs keep you full for longer after eating, but a full stomach can be dangerous during surgery.
Weight-loss injections like Ozempic have exploded in popularity this year. But use of the drugs before surgery could be dangerous, according to new medical guidance.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists said on Thursday that patients taking GLP-1 agonists, including Ozempic and Wegovy, should pause the drugs before any planned surgeries — or risk complications while under anesthesia, like vomiting or breathing food into the lungs.
GLP-1 agonists have been used to treat type 2 diabetes for years. Typically prescribed as once-weekly injections, some of the drugs have recently received FDA approval to treat obesity, while others are being prescribed off-label for weight loss.
One of the ways GLP-1s work is by delaying the emptying of the stomach after eating, so patients feel full for longer. But when patients are put under general anesthesia for surgery, their stomachs are supposed to be empty, which is why patients are told not to eat for a certain amount of time before the procedure.
If a patient still has food in their stomach during surgery, they may vomit or breathe food into their lungs, a phenomenon called anesthesia aspiration that can be fatal.
While clinical studies haven't shown the impacts of GLP-1s on patients undergoing surgery, ASA president Dr. Michael Champeau said in a statement that the medical group has received numerous anecdotal reports that delays in stomach emptying caused by GLP-1s may increase a patient's risk of vomiting or aspirating during surgery.
Patients taking daily doses of a GLP-1 should hold off on using the drug on the day of their planned surgery, the ASA recommended. Patients taking weekly injections should skip that week's dosage.
Those recommendations are the same whether the patient is taking GLP-1s for obesity or type 2 diabetes, but patients with diabetes should consult a diabetes specialist to receive additional guidance on controlling their blood sugar while skipping a dose of the medication, the medical group said.
The ASA noted that the delayed stomach-emptying effects of GLP-1s may be reduced with long-term use of the drugs, according to limited study results.