NASOGASTRIC OR OROGASTRIC TUBE TIPS

Abstract

An NG feeding tube tip (50) is disclosed, which has a main body portion that fits to the end of an NG or OG feeding tube (20). The main body has a hollow interior that is in fluid communication with the bore of the NG or OG tube (20); and an aperture (56) in a sidewall through which feed can be given to a patient, and through which a sample of stomach content can be aspirated. The tip (50) is characterised by the outer wall of the main body comprising a recess or groove (60, 62, 80), which intersects the aperture (56), and which extends at least partially around the exterior surface of the main body. The recess or groove (60, 62, 80) prevents or inhibits an aperture-occluding seal between the stomach wall (30) and the NG or OG tube tip being formed, especially when a vacuum is applied to the NG or OG tube (20) during an aspiration procedure.

Claims

1. An orogastric or nasogastric (NG) feeding tube tip comprising: a main body portion having a hollow interior bore, which is, in use, in fluid communication with the bore of a feeding tube; and an aperture in a sidewall of the main body portion, which is in fluid communication with the hollow interior bore, and hence the bore of the feeding tube, the NG tube feeding tip being characterised in that: the outer wall of the main body comprises a recess or groove, which intersects the aperture or apertures, and which extends at least partially around the exterior surface of the main body, and in that. the aperture comprises a single through aperture, which: extends perpendicularly to an axis of the hollow interior bore; extends all the way through the main body; and which is in fluid communication with the hollow interior bore.

2. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the recess or groove extends radially at least part of the way around the circumference of the main body.

3. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the recess or groove (62) extends at least partially along an axial direction relative to the main body.

4. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the recess or groove extends both axially and radially around the main body of the NG tube tip.

5. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the recess or groove follows a serpentine path around the main body of the NG tube tip.

6. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the recess or groove follows an at least partially helical path around the main body of the NG tube tip.

7. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the recess of groove comprises a capillary.

8. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, comprising two or more recesses or grooves, which provide a plurality of fluid passageways between various points on the NG tip's main body's surface and the aperture.

9. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 8, wherein the plurality of recesses or grooves extend in different directions.

10. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the NG tube tip comprises a smooth, rounded profile.

11. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the NG tube tip comprises a generally bullet-shaped, rounded tip.

12. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the recess or grooves comprises a profile, which does not present an edge or surface at 90° to the to the longitudinal axis.

13. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the surfaces and/or edges of the recesses or grooves are inclined.

14. The NG feeding tube tip of claim 1, wherein the main body is generally cylindrical and has a profile, which blends into an outer profile of an NG tube to which the NG tube tip is affixed.

15. A method of obtaining an aspirate sample from a patient comprising inserting an NG feeding tube tip having axial and radial grooves into a mouth or nose of the patient, the NG feeding tube tip attached to a distal end of a feeding tube; extending the NG feeding tube tip into a stomach of the patient; and drawing a vacuum through the feeding tube and the NG feeding tube tip to obtain the aspirate sample from the patient even if the NG feeding tube tip is sealed against the stomach of the patient.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the NG feeding tube tip comprises a main body portion having a hollow interior, which is, in use, in fluid communication with the bore of a feeding tube, and an aperture in a sidewall of the main body portion, which is in fluid communication with the hollow interior of the NG tube tip, and hence the bore of the feeding tube, the NG tube feeding tip being characterised in that the outer wall of the main body comprises a recess or groove, which intersects the aperture or apertures, and which extends at least partially around the exterior surface of the main body.

Description

[0021] Preferred embodiments of the invention shall be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0022] FIGS. 1 and 2 are, respectively, sectional and side views of a known NG tube tip;

[0023] FIGS. 3 and 4 are, respectively, sectional and side views of an NG tube tip in accordance with the invention;

[0024] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the NG tube tip shown in FIG. 4;

[0025] FIG. 6 is the NG tube tip of FIG. 4 at actual size;

[0026] FIG. 7 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of an NG tube tip in accordance with the invention; and

[0027] FIG. 8 is a sectional view of FIG. 7.

[0028] A known NG tube tip 10 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

[0029] The NG tube tip 10 is manufactured from a small piece of injection-moulded plastics, which has a smooth outer surface 12 and a bullet-shaped, rounded tip 14. The NG tube tip has a trailing edge 16, which is butt-welded onto the leading edge 18 of an NG tube 20. The NG tube 20 has a hollow interior bore 22 which extends axially along its entire length and the NG tube tip 10 also has an interior bore 24, which is in fluid communication with the bore 22 of the NG tube 20. A fluid passageway therefore exists between the proximal end 26 of the NG tube 20 and the interior bore 24 of the NG tube tip 10. Fluids can thus be passed into and out of the NG tube tip 10 via the feeding tube 20 and open proximal end 26 as will be well understood by those skilled in the art.

[0030] The NG tube tip 10 also has a through aperture 28, which extends all the way through the main body of the NG tube tip 10 and which is in fluid communication with the bore 24 of the NG tube tip. Accordingly, fluids can be delivered to, or withdrawn from, a patient via a pressure or vacuum, respectively, applied at the open proximal end 26 of the NG tube 20.

[0031] As shown schematically in FIG. 1 of the drawings, if the patient has an empty stomach, then the side walls 30 of the stomach can collapse in on themselves and can thus seal-off the through aperture 28 thereby preventing fluids from being aspirated or delivered to the patient via the NG tube 20 and tip 10. It will be appreciated, from FIG. 1, that if a vacuum is applied at the open proximal end 26 of the NG tube 20, that this will simply suck the stomach walls 30 further into engagement with the through bore 28, thus sealing off the opening 28 and thus preventing an aspiration procedure from proceeding.

[0032] A solution to this problem is proposed by various embodiments of the invention, which are described hereinbelow:

[0033] Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings, an NG tube tip 50 in accordance with the invention is affixed to the end of an NG tube 20 in the manner previously described. The NG tube tip 50 of the invention has a generally cylindrical main body 52 whose profile blends into the outer profile of the NG tube 20—thereby forming a smooth transition between the two. The distal end 54 of the NG tube tip 50 is rounded, i.e. bullet-shaped thus facilitating insertion of the NG tube 20 into the patient's stomach, in use. The NG tube tip 50 of the invention also has a through aperture 56, which functions in the same manner as the through aperture 28 of the known NG tube tip previously described.

[0034] Where the invention differs from the known NG tube tip 10 is in the configuration of the outer profile 52 of the NG tube tip itself, and in particular in the vicinity of the through aperture 56.

[0035] As can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 6 of the drawings, the outer surface 58 of the NG tube tip 50 has a set of recesses 60, 62 cut into it. There is a generally axial recess 60, which runs generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the NG tube tip 50 and which has one end that intersects the through aperture 56. This provides a fluid passageway between regions along the length of the axial recess 60 and the through aperture 56 of the NG tube tip. Extending radially around the NG tube tip 50 are also a set of radial grooves 62 and each of these intersects the axial recess 60.

[0036] This essentially forms a grid-like array of modules defined by the axial 60 and radial 62 recesses. The modules serve to separate the stomach wall 30 from the aperture 56. The edges and vertices of the nodules are rounded or radiused, so as to provide for smooth sliding of the tip 50 in use, and reduce snagging.

[0037] Now, as can be seen with reference to FIG. 3 of the drawings, if the walls 30 of a patient's stomach come into contact with the through aperture 56, thereby sealing it in the manner previously described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the NG tube tip still can function in both aspirate and in feed-delivery modes of operation. The reason for this is that because whilst the through aperture 56 itself may be sealed off by the stomach walls 30, there will inevitably be some region 64, which is not in contact with the stomach wall 30. Due to the configuration of the axial and radial grooves, 60, 62, a vacuum applied to the proximal end 26 of the feeding tube 20 will still enable a fluid to be aspirated from the non-contacting region 64, despite the fact that the through aperture itself 56 may be closed-off by the stomach wall 30.

[0038] In other words, the grooves and recesses extending away from the through aperture 56 provide clear passageways through which fluid can be aspirated from the stomach even if the stomach wall 30 is effectively sealing some part of the NG tube tip off. It is unlikely, in most cases, that the entirety of the NG tube tip 50 would be completely in contact with a stomach wall 30 and thus the invention enables feeding and/or aspiration to take place notwithstanding the configuration of the stomach wall 30. This represents a significant improvement over known NG tube tips and also addresses one or more of the problems outlined previously.

[0039] Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings, an alternative embodiment of an NG tube tip 50 in accordance with the invention is shown. Identical reference signs have been used to identify identical features to avoid repetition herein. The main difference between the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings and that shown in FIGS. 3 to 6 of the drawings is the configuration of the grooves 80, which are formed as small capillaries extending in a serpentine fashion away from the through aperture 56, rather than being a regular/geometric arrangement as in the previously-described embodiment.

[0040] The main advantage of providing capillary grooves 80, rather than larger features as in the previous embodiment is that even very small amounts of liquid can effectively “wick”, via capillary action, into the through bore 56 thereby reducing the reliance on a vacuum needing to be applied at the proximal end 26 of the feeding tube 20. Furthermore, because the capillary grooves 80 are very small, they will present much lower friction/resistance during insertion/retraction of the feeding tube 20 and this may be beneficial in certain cases.

[0041] The configuration of the capillary grooves can be of any type, although it is anticipated that serpentine, or helical capillary configurations would be preferred because they enable liquid from various different points around the surface of the NG tube tip to be drawn by vacuum or wicked into the through aperture 56—thereby reducing the directionality of the NG tube tip 50. In FIG. 8 of the drawings, it can be seen how each of the capillary grooves 80 provides an effective fluid passageway between various points on the surface of the NG tube tip 50 and the through opening aperture 56. These passageways are indicated, schematically, by the arrows 82 in FIG. 8.