[Experiences with a vent button system in endoscopic and surgical gastrostomy].

Introduction: In all variants of surgical or endoscopic gastrostomies, the abdominal wall is penetrated by a catheter. This reduces life-quality and often induces complications in gastrostomies.

Method: In a prospective trial, an anti-refluxive replacement button was applied as a catheter-substitute in 45 patients after conventional, laparoscopic and percutaneous-endoscopic gastrostomies.

Results: In 1 of 45 patients the button was falsely inserted, only two patients experienced minor local infections of the stoma. No further major complications were noted. The average usage-time is 6.3 +/- 4.9 [1-17] months, the rate of complications in 100 days is 0.06.

Conclusions: The gastrostomy replacement button is safely applicable and improves clearly the comfort of gastrostomies with a low complication rate.