Percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy in pediatric intestinal pseudo-obstruction

Pediatric intestinal pseudoobstruction (PIPO) is the "tip of the iceberg" of the most severe gut motility disorders. In patients with PIPO, the impairment of gastrointestinal propulsive patterns is such as to result in progressive obstructive symptoms without evidence of mechanical causes. PIPO is an important cause of intestinal failure and affects growth and pubertal development. Bowel loop and abdominal distension represent one of the main features of intestinal pseudo-obstruction syndromes, hence intestinal decompression is a mainstay in the management of PIPO. So far, pharmacologic, endoscopic, and surgical treatments failed to achieve long-term relief of bowel distension and related symptoms, including pain. Recent data, however, indicated that percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy (PEG-J) might be a minimally invasive approach for intestinal decompression, thereby improving abdominal symptoms and nutritional status in adult patients with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Based on these promising results, we treated for the first time a 12-y-old patient affected by PIPO refractory to any therapeutic options to obtain intestinal decompression by PEG-J. We showed that PEG-J yielded sustained small bowel decompression in the reported PIPO patient with considerable improvement of both abdominal symptoms and nutritional status. The positive outcome of the present case provides a basis to test the actual efficacy PEG-J versus other therapeutic approaches to intestinal decompression in patients with PIPO.