Laparoscopic gastrostomy: results of 121 patients over 7 years.

Laparoscopic gastrostomy was introduced in various technical variants 7 years ago. However, larger series and long-term results of these new methods are still lacking. In a prospective study, laparoscopic gastrostomies were performed by two institutions in 121 patients (88 men, 33 women; mean age, 58.3 +/- 11.16 years [range, 24-82]) with esophageal stenosis in locally advanced hypopharyngeal or oropharyngeal carcinoma, incurable esophageal carcinoma, and cerebral dysphagia. Operating time was 40 +/- 22 (range, 10-160) minutes. Procedure-related mortality was 0%, early mortality was 1.6%, the overall intraoperative complication rate was 7.4%, and the early complication rate was 9.9%. During a cumulative usage time of 1086.2 months, the complication rate in 1000 usage days was 0.8, and the stoma infection rate was 0.65. Laparoscopic gastrostomy is a reliable method for safe and economic establishment of enteral nutrition, even in patients for whom long-term nutrition by gastrostomy is expected.