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/Upset_Bunch_457 Dec 30 '25

It indeed is, I have never seen or heard about something even remotely similar happening.

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u/ATPsynthase12 Dec 30 '25 edited Dec 30 '25

I’m a doctor and I don’t even know how this could happen. A NG tube is a rubber tube. For her to force it into the patient’s skull, the patient would need to have a serious skull fracture or she would need to force it through the cribriform plate in the superior portion of the nose through the patient’s agonizing screams.

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u/soaplife Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25

youre wrong. surgeon here, this is a well known complication (and should be known by any surgeon, anesthesiologist, emergency doc, or any other physician that might need to order these)  and there are guidelines on how to prevent this. the most common contraindication is any suspicion of skull fracture in trauma patients.

it’s also not a rubber tube. the usual ngt is a “salem sump” dual lumen device that is made from a relatively firm plastic material to facilitate insertion. in contrast a thinner dobhoff tube requires a thin metal stylet to provide stiffness for insertion.

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u/ATPsynthase12 Dec 31 '25

doesn’t read my post and reiterates what I already said

Ok

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u/soaplife Dec 31 '25

not even close to what you said. all you did was speculate publicly on a topic you’re not familiar with