Although enteral feeding by nasal gastric tube is popular for the patients who have a swallowing disability and require long-term nutritional support, but have intact gut, this tube sometimes causes aspiration
pneumonia or esophageal ulcer. For these patients, conventional techniques for performance
of a feeding gastrostomy made by surgical laparotomy have been used so far. However, these patients
are frequently poor anesthetic and operative risks. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG)
which can be accomplished with local anesthesia and without the necessity for laparotomy has become
popular in the clinical treatment for these patients. PEG was performed in 31 cases, percutaneous endoscopic duodenostomy (PED) in 1 case, and percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy (PEJ)
in 2 cases. All patients were successfully placed, and no major complication and few minor complications
(9%) were experienced in this procedure. After this procedure, some patients could discharge
their sputa easily and their pneumonia subsided. PED and PEJ for the patients who had previously
received gastrostomy could also be done successfully with great care. Our experience suggests that
PEG, PED, and PEJ are rapid, safe, and useful procedures for the patients who have poor anesthetic
or poor operative risks.
Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy, Duodenostomy and Jejunostomy
