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To the Editor.—Relearning old lessons is a regrettable but sometimes necessary part of the practice of medicine, as exemplified by the recent article "Hazardous Gaseous Distention of Intestinal Balloons" (235:2611, 1976). Our rediscovery of the gas-diffusion physics of rubber was prompted by a project involving continuous pumptube feeding of malnourished patients with simplified, continuous enteric hyperalimentation. The use of a small mercury bag affixed to the distal end of a small-caliber feeding tube promised an easy answer to tube positioning distal to the pylorus. Two or three milliliters of liquid mercury were placed in the distal end of a rubber condom, finger cot, or glove finger, and the air was evacuated. The neck was tied 5 or 6 cm from the mercury, and the bag was affixed to the distal end of the tube. This arrangement readily accomplished our desired purpose, and the program prospered. In the seventh patient, |
