testing gastric tube placement

[Guest allana]

Please does anyone have any guidance on what size syringe should be used to test the placement of oro/nasogastric tubes in neonates? Within our NICU we have differing practices- some use 2ml and others 10ml syringes but I have not had any luck in locating evidence to support practice. Thanks!

[rehman_naveed]

Does it matters whether one uses 2ml,3ml 5ml or even 10ml syringes to confirm the NG tube palcement. What you need to check is to push small amount of air through any syringe and listen over the epigastrium. I am afraid there will be no evidence in literature or any trial addressing this issue.

[Guest deborahrose]

In our unit we have noticed that is possible to hear the air within the esophagus as well as the stomach. So, just to be sure, we do both: auscultate and aspirate. I have never seen anything in print about syringe size. In our unit we use a 5-10 ml syringe more because we want to measure residual amount if there is any.

[Karen]

I agree...the size of the syringe is probably not a huge issue as long as when aspirating it is done slowly without a lot of pressure, as want to avoid a stomach biopsy. We are just looking at checking placement and whether ausculating for air is a good idea or not. Our first choice is litmus paper and if no aspirate, then is air a good 2nd method of confirmation?