[Percutaneous and surgical gastrostomies: our clinical experience in enteral nutrition]

Percutaneous gastrostomy (PG) was performed on 18 patients and 11 patients were subjected to surgical gastrostomy (SG) in the HCU of Zaragoza from October 1990 to November 1991. Involvement of the high digestive tract was the most common finding: 11 patients had CA of the oesophagus and stomach, 2 suffered from extrinsic pressure of the oesophagus due to metastatic adenopathy of a lung and breast tumour and 9 patients had CA of the larynx with total dysphagia. Another less common indication in our series, although still of great importance, was a severe involvement of the CMS, which made oral nutrition impossible due to functional dysphagia. Due to the long-term nature of this pathology, feeding by nasogastric tube was not considered. This was the case of 4 patients. The duration of enteral nutritional in the patients' home was 112.8 +/- 61 days with PG and 37 +/- 26 days with SG (p: 0.007). The incidence of complications was 33% in PG and 73% in SG, and for both techniques, the most common complication was blockage of the tube. Percutaneous gastrostomy is a simple technique, with no surgical risks involved, but with the benefits of traditional surgical techniques which, despite the small number of cases recorded, has very few complications both with regard to placing and afterwards, and also enables the patient to receive nutrients earlier than would be the case with traditional surgical techniques during prolonged periods at the patient's home.