A Rare Complication of Nasogastric Tube Insertion: Bronchopleural Fistula

Tevfik Ilker Akcam, Ali Ozdil, Ahmet Kayahan Tekneci and Ufuk Cagirici

Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey

^*Correspondance to: Tevfik Ilker Akcam 

 PDF  Full Text DOI: 10.25107/2474-1647.1510

Abstract

A nasogastric tube (NGT) had been inserted due to the complaints of refusal of oral nutrition and aglutition to a sixty-one years old female with schizophrenia. Disturbance in general status, hypotension, dispnea and tachicardia were observed after the initiation of enteral feeding. Chest X-ray revealed left hydropneumothorax therewith tube thoracostomy was performed. Enteral feeding fluid drainage was observed. Thorax computed tomography showed NGT to be in the left pleural space. The patient was followed up after the removal of NGT and the tube thoracostomy was ended on the sixteenth day. The patient was discharged from the hospital without any sequela. Although insertion of NGT is a simple procedure it can result in serious complications like epistaxis, pharyngeal perforation, osephagial rupture and pneumothorax. The localization of the tube must be corrected after insertion in order to avoid and detect these serious complications.

Keywords

Bronchopleural fistula; Hydropneumothorax; Nasogastric tube

Cite the article

Akcam TI, Ozdil A, Tekneci AK, Cagirici U. A Rare Complication of Nasogastric Tube Insertion: Bronchopleural Fistula. Clin Surg. 2017; 2: 1510.