[Endoscopic percutaneous gastrostomy. Experience at a general hospital]

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is a technique scantly used in Spanish hospitals. Its finality is the nutrition of patients with dysphagia, by avoiding the inconveniences and complications of transnasal feeding tubes. Our group has begun a protocol of endoscopically placed gastrostomies and in this work we present its first series; it includes 23 cases of patients with dysphagia secondary to neurological disorders. We have employed the original "pull technique" from Gauderer and Ponsky and we have used homemade gastrostomy tubes. Only two mild complications were observed (stoma infection). In our experience, this technique is easy and has few complications. Furthermore, if homemade tubes are used, the economic cost is very low. In this paper, beside of communicating our results, we summarize the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy technique and the way for constructing the tubes.