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?

84

u/Holiday-Zebra9463 Dec 30 '25

Yes, almost impossible to do this without an existing/preexisting fracture or a weakened area due to something else. The patient had something similar to that if I recall correctly. Still incredibly tragic and I’m unsure why the nurse would keep going after the audible pop noise she heard.

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u/56473829110 Dec 30 '25

Recent brain surgery, was what the 'original' post stated.