Gastrostomy Tube Replacement Using Foley's Catheters in Children

To study the complications from gastrostomy tube replacement using Foley ' catheters.

This is a retrospective descriptive study that included children (aged 0-15 years), who had their gastrostomy tubes replaced during 1 October 2006 and 30 September 2011.

There were 353 gastrostomy tube replacements in total. Majority of them were using Foley's catheters, 339 times in 28 children. In this group, 275 of them were performed as scheduled, mean while 64 were emergency events. The most frequent cause of the emergency replacement was the tube displacement, comprising 82.81% of all causes. Most events were usual replacements. Only one case required endoscopy with gastrostomy tract dilation under general anesthesia. Complications were found in 81.12%; the first and second most common found were dislodgement and granulation tissues, respectively. No severe complications were found.

The gastrostomy tube replacement using Foley's catheters instead of the commercial gastrostomy ones is a safe and convenient practice without any severe complications. However, further studies should be conducted in order to improve the skin fixation to prevent granulation tissue and the dislodgement.