The Design of Transmitting Tag for Nasogastric Intubation Sensing

Abstract

A 915-MHz transmitting tag designed for nasogastric tube (NGT) positioning is proposed and implemented in this work. Associated with the guidewire, only the tag antenna is attached at the wire tip and will be inserted into the human body along with the tube, while the other transmitting circuitry and the battery will stay outside the body. Due to the size restriction of NGT, the designed helical dipole antenna is 106 mm in length and only 4 mm in diameter, and has a measured gain of 1.92 dBi. Verification tests were performed on different pork tissues as well as the intubation training phantom. It is expected that this sensing technique could provide a low cost solution to help to prevent the tube misplacement during intubation.