PEG - IS THE E NECESSARY - A COMPARISON OF PERCUTANEOUS AND ENDOSCOPIC GASTROSTOMY

We describe our experience of 45 percutaneous gastrostomies using 12 F Wills-Oglesby (Cook, Inc, Bloomington, IN, USA) catheters and 33 perc utaneous endoscopic gastrostomies using 12 F Bower PEG's (Corpak, Inc, Wheeling, IL, USA), Tube displacement was a continued problem with th e Wills-Oglesby catheter resulting in three patients developing perito nitis with one death, In view of this we would recommend as the prefer red technique the endoscopic placement of Bower PEG catheters unless t here are contraindications to the endoscopic technique.