Endoscopically-assisted duodenal feeding tube placement using a nasogastric tube: preliminary two-year experience.

Our initial 2-year experience using a new technique of nasoduodenal feeding tube placement with a soft nasogastric tube is presented. This technique was used for patients with major burns to initiate early, safe enteral feeding. With the use of double loops in the tube and endoscopic assistance, the placement of the nasogastric tube beyond the second portion of the duodenum was accomplished in approximately 20 minutes. A method of transpyloric duodenal intubation using a soft, unstented nasogastric tube that allowed rapid bedside nasoduodenal intubation, with the patient in the supine position, was used. The tube placement technique minimizes the suffering of critically ill patients and the labor of clinicians performing the tube placement.