New variant of nasogastric tube placement: focus on safety

The article discusses the preliminary results of using a new variant of nasogastric tube placement in patients with impaired consciousness and swallowing disorders (11 such placements have been performed). The proposed variant of insertion is designed to increase the safety of this procedure in the group of somatically and neurologically severe patients. Endoscopic control of overcoming the spasmed upper esophageal sphincter (UES) by nasogastric tube is included as one of the installation stages. This allows not only to make sure that the esophageal intubation was successful, but also to remove the metal guide from the internal space of the probe immediately after the probe overcomes the UPI. Preliminary results have shown that the method is justified in the considered clinical situations, when clinical signs of esophageal intubation (or unplanned tracheal intubation) are not obvious.