During duodenal drainage for diagnostic purposes, for treatment, or in the course of experimental procedure, the patient is usually required to rest on the right side for an hour or more waiting for the tube to float into the duodenum. The entire drainage continues from two to three hours, frequently leaving the patient rather exhausted.
Although experience has taught that the peristaltic waves of the stomach will carry the tube into the duodenum, a spastic pylorus may be encountered, the tube may curl up and the peristaltic waves not be sufficiently strong, or other things may happen that may markedly delay the procedure or prevent the entrance of the tube. The method presented here has reduced materially the time of this procedure.
The study of forty cases has proved that the tube may be successfully inserted into the duodenum in approximately two to ten minutes. This was verified by actually