Temporary transgastrostomy tube for ileus.

Purpose: In cases of small bowel obstruction, prolonged use of nasogastric tubes should be avoided because of the resulting discomfort. However, their use is necessary in some instances to avoid surgery, facilitate better prognosis, or prevent postoperative reobstruction in spite of the discomfort involved. We performed temporary percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomies preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively in such cases, which reduced the complications resulting from the use of a nasogastric tube and was also useful in additional therapeutic procedures.

Methods: We performed percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in five patients with ileus who were candidates for prolonged tube decompression due to complications such as adhesion ileus.

Results: Four patients avoided surgery or postoperative repeat surgery and one patient's condition improved preoperatively.

Conclusions: Following gastrostomy, the patients were able to tolerate the transgastrostomy tube for longer periods than the nasogastric tube, and the transgastrostomy tube also resulted in better outcomes. Thus, temporary percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is a better option for selected patients with ileus.