Postoperative Complications in Children Undergoing Video-Assisted Gastrostomy Tube Placement Correlated to Their Age and Diagnosis

Gastrostomy tube placements in children are associated with frequent postoperative complications. Children with gastrostomy tubes are frequent visitors to the emergency department and outpatient clinic. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of postoperative gastrostomy complications and disclose if these were correlated to the patients’ age and diagnosis. This is a prospective study of children who had undergone laparoscopic gastrostomy tube placement from June 2006 through March 2011. Patient demographics, comorbidities, and complications were collected. Data were analyzed by Fisher’s exact test. P<0.05 is considered significant. One hundred and sixty-two children were evaluated, with the majority of patients < 2 years of age (106/162). All the patients had undergone laparoscopic-assisted gastrostomy with double U-stitch technique. Granulation tissue, vomiting, infection, leakage were the most common postoperative complications. The majority of patients with these complications had full resolution by the sixth postoperative month. Tube dislodgement was a complication, occurring 16 times in 14 of the patients (10%) and resulting in 16 emergency department (ED) visits. Diagnoses were predictive of complications, and age and gender were not. Granulation tissue, vomiting, infection, leakage and tube dislodgement are complications after gastrostomy placement in children. The age of the child, was not predictive of complications but children with congenital cardiac malformation and malignant diseases had more frequent postoperative complications.