Background: The tip of currently available percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy (PEGJ) tubes frequently migrates back into the stomach.
Objective: To study the safety of a novel, ballooned-tip, PEGJ tube and assess the risk of retrograde migration into the stomach within 3 weeks of placement.
Design: Prospective clinical study (NCT01551095).
Setting: Tertiary-care center.
Patients: Seven patients who required post-pyloric feeding were included.
Intervention: Placement of PEGJ feeding tubes.
Main outcome measurements: Position of the PEGJ, abdominal radiograph findings, adverse events.
Results: Seven patients underwent placement of self-propelled PEGJ tubes during the study period. Technical success was achieved in all patients (100%). All procedures were rated as technically simple, and jejunostomy tubes were placed in <5 minutes during all procedures. Abdominal radiographs showed that the jejunostomy tubes were in the jejunum in all 7 patients at both 1 and 3 weeks after tube placement.
Limitations: Small number of patients and short follow-up.
Conclusion: Ballooned-tip PEGJ feeding tubes were safe and easy to place. The presence of the balloon prevented migration into the stomach. Ballooned-tip PEGJ tubes have the potential to eliminate the need for hospital readmission and repeat endoscopies for retrograde tube migration, and this may result in large systemic cost savings.
Copyright © 2013 American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.