Presentation
Elderly patient with multiple medical problems, and swallowing difficulties.
Patient Data
CXR demonstrates the nasogastric tube in the left lower lobe bronchus. Note how continued pushing of the tube forwards, resulted in a segment of the tube to fold into an adjacent bronchus.
Case Discussion
Nasogastric tubes are common in hospitalized patients, and are in most cases relatively easy to insert. In a number of cases however they do find their way into the bronchial tree, and in debilitated patients, this can be surprisingly asymptomatic. As such a nasogastric tube should not be used for feeding of administration of medication until its location in the stomach has been confirmed.