Clinical Vignettes/Case Reports-General Endoscopy.

Abstract

During upper endoscopic procedures, maintenance of oral suction usually requires a nurse to manually hold the suction tube in place, often for a prolonged period of time. In order to provide assistance to the endoscopist with biopsies or hemostasis, the suction tube is often removed, placed under the pillow or falls on the floor, causing patient discomfort due to accumulation of saliva in the oropharynx. To minimize patient distress and allow continuous hands-free suction of saliva, we have developed a modified suction tube attachment method, using the redundancy of the bite block elastic strap. This simple technique allows fixation of the suction tube within the bite block strap, thereby ensuring continuous aspiration of saliva without the need for nurse-held stabilization. The attachment of the suction tube to the bite block is sufficiently mobile to allow repositioning of the apparatus, if required. Any excess tubing can be placed behind the patient's pillow, to avoid traction of the suction tube. Patient comfort and procedural efficiency may be enhanced by using this simple method for suctioning during various diagnstic or theraputic upper endoscopic procedures, including EUS and ERCP.Figure: Attachment of the elastic strap to the bite block.Figure: Suction tube inserted into bite block with overlapping of strap.Figure: Hands-free suction tube secured to bite block.