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The suprasternal notch: a surface landmark for endotracheal tube tip position in newborns?
  1. Madeleine C Murphy1,2,
  2. Colm Patrick Finbarr O’Donnell1,2,3
  1. 1 Department of Neonatology, National Maternity Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
  2. 2 School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
  3. 3 National Children’s Research Centre, Dublin, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Colm Patrick Finbarr O’Donnell, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, The National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin 2, Ireland; codonnell{at}nmh.ie

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Correct endotracheal tube (ETT) tip position in a newborn is between the upper border of the first and lower border of the second thoracic vertebra (T1–T2) on chest X-ray (CXR).1 ETT tip palpation at the suprasternal notch has been recommended for estimating insertion depth,2 and small studies suggest that using this technique may increase the rate of correctly placed ETTs. The suprasternal notch corresponds to the interclavicular midpoint (ICMP) on CXR and approximates the midpoint of the trachea. Blayney and Logan3 determined the position of the ICMP in …

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  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.