Percutaneous feeding gastrostomy with the Seldinger technique: review of 252 patients.

Over a period of 60 months, percutaneous nonendoscopic gastrostomy for enteral feeding was successfully performed with the Seldinger technique in 250 of 252 consecutive patients. Local anesthetics alone (without intravenous sedatives) were used in 248 patients (98%). The 30-day mortality was 14.2% and included two procedure-related deaths (0.8%). Major complications necessitating surgery occurred in three patients (1.2%), and one patient had a major gastrointestinal hemorrhage (0.4%) treated medically. Minor complications occurred in 4.4% of patients. The results compare favorably with those found with alternative techniques (surgical or endoscopic) for gastrostomy. The authors conclude that this procedure is simple, is relatively safe, and represents a preferred method of gastrostomy for enteral feeding.