[Percutaneous gastrostomy with balloon PEG balloon replacement tubes by the radiologist. An interventional technique for simple placement of feeding catheters without surgical or endoscopic intervention].

Patients afflicted with stenotic head and neck or esophageal tumors often require artificial enteral feeding. Frequently passage of an endoscope through the esophagus is impossible in these patients. Interventional, fluoroscopically assisted, percutaneous gastrostomy (PG) by balloon replacement tubes is a feasible and successful alternative to percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) and the method of choice in patients where the esophagus cannot be passed with an endoscope anymore. Technical success rate is very high and serious complications are rare. Radiological PG is a feasible, equivalent alternative to PEG also in all other patients. We recommend PG with balloon gastrostomy tubes in conjunction with gastropexy performed with three to four T-fasteners, which are left in place for seven days in order to prevent dislocation and leakage.