{"id":109,"date":"2025-05-18T23:25:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T23:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/?page_id=109"},"modified":"2026-05-21T06:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:12:07","slug":"australasian-mars-multicentre-aspiration-risk-study","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/?page_id=109","title":{"rendered":"MARS Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Australasian MARS – Multicentre Aspiration Risk Study<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
DOWNLOAD STUDY PROTOCOL – CLICK HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is MARS?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

MARS is an Australasian multicentre observational cohort study looking at rates of pulmonary aspiration under anaesthesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study aims to assess whether permitting clear fluid drinks until the start of anaesthesia (\u201cSip Til Send\u201d) is non-inferior compared to advising patients to stop drinking 1 or 2 hours before anaesthesia (restrictive fluid fasting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sip Til Send<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Despite national guidelines advising patients to consume clear fluids until 1 to 2 hours before an anaesthetic, in practice patients often go without fluids for much longer \u2013 commonly averaging 7 to 13 hours. This can cause thirst, dehydration, heightened anxiety, nausea, delirium in the elderly, and issues with blood sugar management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sip Til Send fasting has become an effective and popular strategy to shorten fluid fasting duration before anaesthesia, improving the patient experience and avoiding the problems related to dehydration. Between 2023 and 2025, approximately 50 Australasian hospitals transitioned to offering their patients Sip Til Send.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we need MARS?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Pulmonary aspiration under anaesthesia is rare and in most cases the consequences are mild, but it remains an important cause of severe complications during anaesthesia.

The MARS project is designed to provide the best available evidence regarding aspiration rates with safety of Sip Til Send, particularly in adult cohorts and in emergency settings where there is very limited evidence.<\/span><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study design<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The MARS project will audit more than 250,000 anaesthetics in adults and children undergoing elective and emergency procedures, collecting detailed records from any aspiration events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Registered study sites<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

As of January 2026, there are 45 hospitals registered for the MARS project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hospital recruitment<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The study is no longer recruiting new study sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
DOWNLOAD STUDY PROTOCOL – CLICK HERE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Study progress<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

April 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multicentre ethics approval granted by respective authorities in Australia and New Zealand and recognised by all hospitals in their respective countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limited funding secured to facilitate the study\u2019s design and implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commencement of local governance approval applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data received from 100,000 anaesthetics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study co-ordination<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Co-ordinating Centre:<\/strong>\u2028<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine – Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, Queensland, Australia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead Investigators:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr Phuong Markman, Staff specialist anaesthetist, Cairns Hospital, Australia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr Ruth Blank, Staff specialist anaesthetist, Cairns Hospital, Australia\u2028<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Zealand Coordinator:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr Alec Beresford, Specialist Anaesthetist – Health NZ Waitaha Canterbury \u2013 Christchurch hospital, New Zealand\u2028<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supervisor<\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Professor David Story. President, ANZCA. Head, Dept of Critical Care, The University of Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australasian MARS – Multicentre Aspiration Risk Study What is MARS? MARS is an Australasian multicentre observational cohort study looking at rates of pulmonary aspiration under anaesthesia. The study aims to assess whether permitting clear fluid drinks until the start of anaesthesia (\u201cSip Til Send\u201d) is non-inferior compared to advising patients to stop drinking 1 or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-109","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164,"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109\/revisions\/164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairnsanaesthesia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}