Use of methylene blue spectrophotometry to detect subclinical aspiration in enterally fed intubated pediatric patients

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Methylene blue (non-peptide stack partner), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Enteral feeding is widely used in ventilated patients admitted to pediatric intensive care units.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as infants, young children, children and teenagers, both men and women.

Single pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary care children's hospital.

Forty-four intubated patients (< or = 18 yrs old).

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

Because people in this Methylene blue (non-peptide stack partner) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Intubated patients were randomized to receive either nasogastric (n = 27) or postpyloric (n = 17) enteral feeding.

Feeding tube placement by the bedside nurse was confirmed by abdominal radiograph.

Methylene blue was added at a standard dilution to an age-appropriate formula.

Tracheal secretions were suctioned every 8 hrs, tested for blue color by observation, and analyzed via spectrophotometry.

Patients were followed until feeds were stopped for anticipated extubation.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Enteral Nutrition, Intensive Care Units, Pediatric, Intubation, Gastrointestinal, Intubation, Intratracheal, Methylene Blue, Respiratory Aspiration and Spectrophotometry.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Methylene blue (non-peptide stack partner).

Results are reported in around 7 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2008 (Pediatric critical care medicine : a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Methylene blue (non-peptide stack partner) compound page, all human trials.