Sengstaken-Blakemore_tube
Sengstaken–Blakemore tube
Medical device
A Sengstaken–Blakemore tube is a medical device inserted through the nose or mouth and used occasionally in the management of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to esophageal varices (distended and fragile veins in the esophageal wall, usually a result of cirrhosis). The use of the tube was originally described in 1950,[1] although similar approaches to bleeding varices were described by Westphal in 1930.[2] With the advent of modern endoscopic techniques which can rapidly and definitively control variceal bleeding, Sengstaken–Blakemore tubes are rarely used at present.[3]