BACKGROUND:The correct placement of a nasogastric tube for enteral nutrition is subject of several investigations, demonstrating the controversy of the procedure. AIM: To establish an external measure that can correspond to the internal measurement which determines the insertion length of nasogastric feeding tube up to the stomach. METHODS: External measures were obtained between points: nose tip vs earlobe vs xiphoid appendix vs umbilicus and height correlated with the standard measures obtained from patients undergoing diagnostic esophagogastroduodenoscopy. RESULTS: It was found a significative statistical correlation between esophagogastric junction, identified during the esophagogastroduodenoscopy, with the distance measured between the anatomic points of the earlobe and xiphoid appendix (r= 0.75) and from this line with the orthostatic height (r=0.72). CONCLUSION: The distance between the earlobe to the xiphoid appendix (0.75) and the distance between the earlobe to the xiphoid appendix to the midpoint of the umbilicus, subtracting the distance from tip of nose to earlobe, were safe anatomical parameters to reach the esophagogastric junction. The height in the standing position (r= 0.72) also can be used as an indicator of the length necessary to insert the tube into the stomach. The height in the standing position (r= 0.72) also can be used as an indicator of the length necessary to insert the tube into the stomach.
Tube feeding; Enteral nutrition; Anthropometry; Esophagogastroduodenoscopy
