Improved design of nasogastric feeding tubes

Dual‐Purpose Gastric Decompression and Enteral Feeding Tubes Rationale and Design of Novel Nasogastric and Nasogastrojejunal Tubes

“…These principles are illustrated in Figure 5. In our experience, a satisfactory “kink” resistance is maintained, and insertion using an introducer wire is enhanced by the use of an internal water‐activated lubricant 32 . ‐ 34 …”

“…The properties of PVC are such that the ratio of internal flow lumen to the outside diameter is relatively low. This means that to achieve satisfactory flow properties, the tubes have to have a larger than ideal outside diameter 32 (most Salem Sump tubes used are 18Fr). Consequently, the tubes are often very uncomfortable for the patient, and the desire for their removal is great, making it difficult to employ their use for longer periods for early postoperative nutrition support.…”

“…Our design program has focused on the use of aromatic polyurethane (PU) rather than PVC as the tube material 33 since the basic chemical formulation of aromatic PU has a number of advantages over PVC (Figure 5). It is stronger, allowing thinner walls, resulting in an increased internal diameter (ID) and flow areas for a given OD 32 . ‐ 34 As a consequence of its strength, it does not kink as easily and is resistant to fracture (breakage).…”

“…The aspiration/infusion port was employed in the design of our first nasogastric feeding tube (Figure 7B). This was a long, single, widened, smooth, and curved edged port with no “dead space” distal to the outflow port to trap mucus or curdled diet 32 , 33 . Gastric contents could be aspirated in 60% of occasions after tube insertion 32 .…”

“…This was a long, single, widened, smooth, and curved edged port with no “dead space” distal to the outflow port to trap mucus or curdled diet 32 , 33 . Gastric contents could be aspirated in 60% of occasions after tube insertion 32 . In the second design (Figure 7C) that formed the basis of our second nasogastric feeding tube, 34 sidewalls were lowered to 186° of the lumen diameter, increasing the outflow area by 65.9% compared with the equivalent tube in Figure 7B.…”