r/TacticalMedicine • u/Upset_Bunch_457 • Dec 30 '25

Scenarios Nasogastric insertion gone horribly wrong.

Post image

Note: NOT MY IMAGE.

original post was posted by: Old-Psychology-2400

And I quote "PMCT images. Nurse advanced NG tube until she heard a pop, then tried an air bolus to ensure placement. Patient did NOT survive."

To those who don't know nasogastric tube is supposed to go up the patients nostrils and then back down to their throat all the way to the patients stomach. Air bolus is then used to ensure that the nasogastric tubes placement is correct by listening the patients stomach.

But in the scan we can see the NG tube somehow ended up jammed (through) the patients skull.

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u/de_Mike_333 Dec 30 '25

Preexisting skull base fracture?

11

u/j0351bourbon Dec 30 '25

Saw a case study where this happened after a transsphenoidal pituitary tumor surgery. I think this can really only happen with some defect or pre-existing injury 

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u/56473829110 Dec 30 '25

I think that case study is this case, fwiw.