In adults, small amounts of warm water or saline are administered and, via a siphoning action, removed again.
Because of the possibility of vomiting, a suction device is always on hand in case of pulmonary aspiration of stomach contents.
The person must be anaesthetised for a period of time during the operation due to its high risk of shock and hyponatremia.
When the body temperature rises above 40 °C, gastric lavage with iced saline also can be an aggressive cooling measure in a medical emergency.
Other complications include laryngospasm, hypoxia, bradycardia, epistaxis, hyponatremia, hypochloremia, water intoxication, or mechanical injury to the stomach.