Incidence of pulmonary aspiration in intubated patients receiving enteral nutrition through wide- and narrow-bore nasogastric feeding tubes.

A descriptive study was performed to compare the incidence of pulmonary aspiration in 25 critically ill patients who had endotracheal tubes in place and were receiving enteral nutrition through a narrow-bore nasogastric tube (n = 10) or a wide-bore nasogastric tube (n = 15). Results of chi-square analysis of this comparison were not significant, p less than 0.05. Aspiration occurred in one subject. The amount and rate of tube feeding delivered was examined. The number of checks for residual feeding was found to be significantly greater in the wide-bore tube group. A comparison of the assessment of nasogastric tube placement on x-ray examination showed that tube placement was reported on x-ray results with more frequency in the wide-bore group. Questions are raised by these observations regarding the use of narrow-bore tubes in the critically ill population with endotracheal tubes in place.