Alexis Ortega
Alexis Ortega is our student highlight for the month of January. Alexis is currently a second-year medical student at Kansas City University. He is originally from Grand Island, Nebraska and attended undergraduate school at Nebraska Wesleyan University. When not studying, Alexis loves to watch and play baseball. Baseball is a huge part of his life, and he has been coaching baseball at the high school level for the last 4 years. One fun fact about Alexis is that he is a triplet. He is interested in Orthopedic Surgery as a future career. He has been busy with research this year and is currently involved with several projects.
Alexis did a great job presenting this research project titled “Esophageal Perforations Following Small-Bore Nasogastric Tube Placement: A Case Report” virtually at the monthly ResearchXP Consortium. The project was a case report describing a 61-year-old male who underwent a direct laryngoscopy, total laryngectomy, and esophageal dilation with complex closure for laryngeal obstruction and a tracheocutaneous fistula. A Corpak feeding tube was placed intraoperatively and advanced at beside postoperatively in a blind fashion. The Corpak placement was verified with plain film imaging and small tube feeds were initiated. However, the patient subsequently experienced acute onset abdominal pain and hemodynamic instability. A CT scan then demonstrated a perforated esophagus. This was a rare complication with the placement of a small-bore nasogastric tube that warranted a case report. See his poster below for more information!
