Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy. Review of 150 Cases

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was performed on 50 children and 100 adults from June 1979 to May 1982 at Case Western Reserve University Hospitals and the Mt Sinai Medical Center in Cleveland. Morbidity was low (10%), and there were no procedure-related deaths. Complications included minor wound infections in seven patients early in the series, extrusion of the tube in three, unnecessary laparotomy in two suspected of having problems with the tube early in the series, a partial separation of the gastrostomy from the abdominal wall in one adult, and gastrocolic fistula in one adult and one child. The last condition disappeared after removal of the gastrostomy tube in both patients. No leakage around the catheter, hemorrhage, peritonitis, or gastric outlet obstruction was encountered. This procedure provided a rapid, safe, and effective method for creating a feeding gastrostomy and did not require general anesthesia and laparotomy. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy should become the method of choice for the creation of a feeding gastrostomy.