What are the indications for a feeding tube placement?

Name some methods available to confirm appropriate placement of a feeding tube, and what are the drawbacks of the most definite methods of confirming feeding tube placement?

What preconditions need to be met for placement of a feeding tube?

Are there complications associated with feeding tube placement?

Early records note that Capivacceus placed a tube to deliver nutrients into the foregut [1]. The practice became more common during the seventeenth century. The tubes are inserted to decompress the stomach or for intestinal ileus or obstruction [2, 3]. Patients that most frequently need a naso-enteric tube (NET) are in surgical intensive care settings. Other indications include prematurity, failure to thrive (or malnutrition), neurologic and neuromuscular disorders, inability to swallow, anatomical and postsurgical malformations of the mouth and esophagus, cancer and digestive disorders. The feeding tubes could be for short-term or even long-term use [2]. Feeding tubes are placed in patients either through the nose or percutaneously.

Appropriate placement of an NET is not always successful. Misplacement is said to occur about 13–20% in adults and in 39–55% of pediatric patients [3]. Many different methods have been used to confirm proper placement. These include: