We offer Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy at our Mississauga Hospital location.
Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy is a procedure where a flexible feeding tube is inserted through your abdominal wall and into your stomach. This allows nutrition, fluids and/or medications to be put directly into your stomach, instead of going through your mouth and esophagus (which is the tube that connects your throat to your stomach).
Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy is used when you have trouble eating on your own. This can be because:
- you have a deformity of your mouth or esophagus
- you have difficulty swallowing or keeping food down
- you aren’t getting enough nutrition or fluids by mouth
Referrals
A referral from a doctor is required.
Resources for Patients & Their Families
How to Prepare for a Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy
Do NOT eat or drink after midnight the evening before the test. You need to have an empty stomach for the test. You may take your usual medications on the morning of the test with a sip of water only.
What to Expect During Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy
Your doctor will use a lighted flexible tube called an endoscope to guide the creation of a small opening through the skin of the upper abdomen and directly into your stomach. This allows the doctor to place and secure a feeding tube into your stomach. Patients generally receive an intravenous sedative and local anesthesia to numb the area, and an antibiotic is given by vein prior to the procedure. Patients can usually go home the day of the procedure or the next day.
How Do I Care for the Feeding Tube?
A dressing will be placed on the feeding tube site following the procedure. This dressing is usually removed after one or two days. After that you should clean the area once a day with diluted soap and water and keep the area dry between cleanings. No special dressing or covering is needed.
How Are Feedings Given? Can I Still Eat and Drink?
Specialized liquid nutrition, as well as fluids, are given through the feeding tube. If you have been given the tube because you have difficulty swallowing (for example, if you’ve had a stroke), there will still be limits on what you can eat and drink by mouth. Although a few patients with feeding tubes may continue to eat or drink after the procedure, this is something you must discuss with your doctor.
Are There Any Possible Complications?
Complications can occur with the tube placement. Possible complications include pain where the tube goes in, leakage of stomach contents around the tube site, and the tube malfunctioning or coming loose. Other possible complications include infection of the tube site, aspiration (inhalation of gastric contents into the lungs), bleeding and perforation (an unwanted hole in the bowel wall). Your doctor can describe what symptoms to look for.
How Long Do the Tubes Last? How Are They Removed?
Feeding tubes can last for months or years. However, because they can break down or become clogged over a long period of time, they might need to be replaced. Your doctor can easily remove or replace a tube without sedatives or numbing the area, although your doctor might decide to use sedation and endoscopy in some cases. Your doctor will remove the tube and will either insert a new tube or let the opening close if you don’t need a new one. The feeding tube site will close quickly once the tube is removed, so if it comes out accidentally you must tell your doctor right away.
