Infant after feeding tube placement

Gastrointestinal
AXR of feeding tube in mainstem bronchus, lung and pleural space with tension pneumothorax
AXR obtained immediately after feeding tube placement (left) shows a feeding tube going down the left mainstem bronchus and then turning up into the lung and increased lucency in the left costophrenic angle presumably due to the feeding tube entering the left pleural space. AXR obtained a minute later after feeding tube repositioning (right) shows the tip of the feeding tube in the antrum of the stomach and a large left pleural air collection with mediastinal shift to the right.

The diagnosis was feeding tube malfunction due to placement of the feeding tube through the airway into the lung and pleural space causing a tension pneumothorax.

Published