LAPAROSCOPIC GASTROSTOMIES AND JEJUNOSTOMIES

The authors describe a technique of laparoscopic gastrostomy and jejun ostomy, which has been used in 23 patients between May 1991 and August 1992 : 13 laparoscopic gastrostomies (LG) and 10 laparoscopic jejunos tomies (LJ), all performed under general anaesthesia. There were no op erative deaths, one intraoperative complication and 3 postoperative co mplications. Twelve patients had died by the end of the study, 7 patie nts were still using their feeding tube and 4 patients ate normally. T he mean duration of use of the feeding tubes was 4 months for LG and 4 3 days for LJ. The secondary complications consisted of 3 tube obstruc tions and one case of pyloric obstruction. Laparoscopic gastrostomy an d jejunostomy, performed according to the method described, constitute an effective and reliable alternative to open operations. They can be performed in cases in which endoscopic gastrostomy is impossible. Due to its technical simplicity, laparoscopic jejunostomy should be prefe rred to gastrostomy whenever there is a risk of inhalation.