Ultrasound-guided nasogastric tube placement in a pediatric emergency department.

ABSTRACT

Nasogastric tube (NGT) insertion is commonly performed in pediatric emergency care. Point-of-care ultrasound is used for confirming NGT insertion, but reports of its use in the pediatric emergency department (ED) are scarce. We describe our experience of ultrasound-guided NGT placement in a pediatric ED. The study pool consisted of twelve patients and the NGT tip was successfully visualized in the esophagus and gastric cardia in all cases, demonstrating that ultrasound has the potential to be a useful alternative to conventional methods of NGT insertion in the pediatric ED.