Tracking of feeding tube for correct placement

• Main Author: Juniardi Saman, Rianasyitaah.
• Other Authors: Phee Soo Jay, Louis
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51035
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

A feeding tube is a medical device that aids in the provision of essential nutrients to patients who are unable to swallow food by themselves. The state of being fed by a tube is normally known as enteral feeding or tube feeding and placement may be temporal or lifelong depending on the condition of the patient. The objective of this project is to develop ideas that would replace existing methods of inserting the feeding tube into the patient’s stomach, instead of the lungs, and improve the accuracy of the placement of the tube. The results of the research carried out will also aim to eventually allow doctors and nurses to insert the tube into a comatose or uncooperative patient with the guidance of medical imaging. This project also aims to establish a relationship between medical practitioners and engineers with biomedical engineering being the common field. By exploring pressure measurement and medical imagery as solutions, a choice of preference will be made according to the solution that best satisfies the need for a visually-aided system and to eliminate the existing method of blind approach, as well as solve potential problems of financial limitations. Upon conceptualization, the mechanical and programming aspects of the project will be designed. In identifying medical imagery to be a more suitable solution, the mechanical aspect is fulfilled in the simple design of attaching the feeding tube to the sensor such that the user is able to visually navigate the tube through the digestive system, while preventing the tube from entering the respiratory system and consequently deliver the appropriate nutrients directly into the stomach. This image-guided system will be a result of modifying an existing system comprising a combination of NDI’s Aurora system, IGSTK and 3D Slicer. The final product of the project should be able to present a solution that is expected to be prolific in both the scientific arena as well as in healthcare. It should also provide a more affordable option for the masses in hospitals and even in the homes of patients. In the future, a prototype can be developed that can be used on human patients after experimentation on animals and medical mannequins.