Gastrostomy insertion in the 21st century: PEG or laparoscopic? Report from a large single-centre series

To determine whether laparoscopic-assisted gastrostomy (LAG) has superseded percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) based on the clinical outcomes.

A retrospective study was undertaken for the period January 06-December 09. Demographic and clinical outcomes were recorded and the two groups were compared.

164 patients were studied (PEG, n = 107; LAG, n = 57). 93.5 % of PEG patients required two general anaesthetics compared with 8 % of LAG patients. Median time to using the gastrostomy was 24 (range 0-168) h in PEG and 0 (0-96) h in LAG patients (p < 0.001). Major complications occurred in 15/107 (14 %) of PEG and 2/57 (3.5 %) of LAG patients (p = 0.05). Re-operation rate following complications was 18/107 (16.8 %) for PEG and 3/57 (5.2 %) for LAG (p = 0.05). Minor complications arose in 41/107 (38 %) of PEG and 32/57 (56 %) of LAG (p = 0.05). Post-operative hospital stay was 2 (1-40) days for PEG and 2 (0-20) days for LAG (p = 0.01). The day-case rate was 0/107 for PEG and 5/57 (9 %) for LAG. There was no gastrostomy-related mortality in the series.

LAG requires fewer anaesthetics, is associated with shorter time to feeding, shortened hospital stay and has a reduced risk of major complications. LAG is a very good alternative to the PEG in children.