LITFL have an excellent summary of this topic.
Also, somewhere else on this site is a brief summary of the routes of enteral nutrition.
Advantages
- Easy to insert
- Least uncomfortable in the awake patient
- The tubes are cheap
- With a basic sump tube, one can aspirate the gastric contents and assess the residual volume, thereby keeping an eye on gastric emptying function
Disadvantages
- Traumatic to the mucosa
- sinusitis
- pressure areas on the nares or upper lip
- requires radiological confirmation of placement
- easily dislodged by a delirious patient
- may increase aspiration risk
Nasogastric route of insertion
Advantages
- Easy to insert
- Least uncomfortable in the awake patient
- The tubes are cheap
- With a basic sump tube, one can aspirate the gastric contents and assess the residual volume, thereby keeping an eye on gastric emptying function
Disadvantages
- Traumatic to the mucosa: the coagulopathic patient will have a deluge of epistaxis.
- In the long term, can cause sinusitis
- In the long term, can cause pressure areas on the nares or upper lip
- It requires radiological confirmation of placement
- It is easily dislodged by a delirious patient
- It may increase aspiration risk because the gastro-oesophageal sphincter is less competent when there is something constantly in it
Orogastric route of insertion
Advantages
- Easy to insert (especially with direct laryngoscopy)
- Fewer pressure are complications with long term use
- Less traumatic to mucosa; its the route of choice for the patient with no platelets.
Disadvantages
- The path of insertion is less direct than with the nasal insertion
- Intolerably uncomfortable for the awake patient
- May cause pressure areas on the lips
- May interfere with oral hygiene care (in the sense that another tube in the mouth is something else to get in the nurses' way)