ULTRASOUND-ASSISTED PERCUTANEOUS ENDOSCOPIC GASTROSTOMY IN A PATIENT WITH ADVANCED OVARIAN-CARCINOMA AND RECURRENT INTESTINAL-OBSTRUCTION

We report a case of recurrent bowel obstruction in a 56-yr-old woman s econdary to progressive ovarian carcinoma. Due to a history of multipl e prior surgeries, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and pro gressive intra-abdominal disease, placement of a percutaneous endoscop ic gastrostomy (PEG) for decompression was thought to carry significan t risk if standard techniques were used. We therefore used transcutane ous ultrasound imaging at the time of endoscopy, which allowed for rap id localization of an appropriate area for PEG placement, thereby mini mizing the risk of inadvertently entering adjacent organs or metastati c foci. To our knowledge, this is the first such case in which ultraso und-assisted PEG placement has been utilized.