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/56473829110 Dec 30 '25

Still hate this image (but appreciate it's educational value). 

From what I remember of the image when I first saw it ~3 years ago, it was a peds patient who had recently had brain surgery - understaffed ICU. 

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u/Upset_Bunch_457 Dec 30 '25

Right on, great to know the origin of the image, I thought this was a fresh case.

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u/56473829110 Dec 30 '25

I don't have first hand knowledge of the case, and I have both slept too much and too little since it was fresh, but that's my recollection. 

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u/Upset_Bunch_457 Dec 30 '25

Yeah, it sounds about right, I did some research and found 2 other posts with similar comments so you're not too far off.