NG-Sure WP2 Sampling Feasibility Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
NG-Sure WP2: Feasibility of a Sampling Method for Volatile Biomarker Positioning of Naso-Gastric Tubes
IRAS ID
251301
Contact name
Angela Grange
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 29 days
Research summary
Naso-gastric (NG) tubes (a tube passed through a patient's nostril into their food pipe and then stomach, secured to the patient's cheek with tape) are widely used in the NHS for adult and child patients to provide enteral feeds or medicines for patients who cannot swallow or tolerate feeds by mouth, or patients requiring intensive care/surgery.
There are patient safety concerns if an NG-tube becomes misplaced into the patient's lung during insertion, or moves out of the patient's stomach at a later stage. Feeding through a misplaced NG-tube can can cause serious harm to patients, even death.
The current procedure for testing correct placement of an NG-tube relies upon getting gastric aspirate up an NG-tube for testing with pH paper, but only 50-85% success rates are reported for getting aspirate. When aspirate cannot be obtained, X-rays are used to verify NG-tube position. However, X-rays are costly and inconvenient for patients, and also subject to misinterpretation. Something better is needed.
This study builds upon our earlier research and is part of a programme of work that aims to develop and test a new portable, hand-held device (known as NG-Sure®) to detect the correct position of a naso-gastric tube (NG-tube) in adult patients.
NG-Sure will identify the location of an NG-tube through the measurement of pH and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emanating from the stomach (or in the case of NG-tube misplacement, from the lungs, trachea or oesophagus).
The study aims to identify an effective and acceptable sampling method for acquiring VOCs using the existing NG-tube lumen itself. The study will collect a minimum of 30 successful air samples from at least 15 patients through their existing NG-tube lumen. The study will also collect information from both the patient and the researcher collecting the sample about their experiences of the process.
REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0360
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion