Successful placement of postpyloric enteral tubes using electromagnetic guidance in critically ill children

Initiation of postpyloric feeding is often delayed by difficulties in placement of enteral tubes. We evaluated the effectiveness of bedside postpyloric enteral tube (PET) placement using an electromagnetic (EM)-guided device. We hypothesized that: 1) EM-guided placement of PETs would be successful more often than standard blind placement with a shorter total time to successful placement and 2) the EM-guided technique would have similar overall costs to the standard technique.

Prospective cohort trial with serial control groups in a pediatric intensive care unit at a tertiary care children's hospital.

We collected data on a cohort of consecutive pediatric intensive care unit patients who underwent PET placement by standard blind technique followed by a cohort who underwent EM-guided placement. The primary outcome measure was successful placement determined by abdominal radiography.

One hundred seven patients were evaluated in the trial: 57 in the standard group and 50 in the EM-guided group. Demographic data, percent intubated, and admission diagnosis were similar in both groups. Forty-one of 50 patients (82%) in the EM-guided group had successful placement compared with 22 of 57 in the standard group (38%) (p < 0.0001). The average time to successful placement was 1.7 vs. 21 hours in the EM-guided group and standard group, respectively (p < 0.0001). Children in the EM-guided group received fewer radiographs (p = 0.007) and were given more prokinetic drugs (p = 0.045). There were no episodes of pneumothorax in either group. After controlling for prokinetic drug use, EM-guided placement was more likely to result in successful placement than the standard blind technique (odds ratio 6.4, 95% confidence interval 2.5-16.3). An annual placement rate of 250 PETs by EM guidance, based on our institution's current utilization rates, is associated with a cost savings of $55.46 per PET placed.

EM guidance is an efficient and cost-effective method of bedside PET placement.