Experience with image-guided gastrostomy and gastrojejunostomy tubes in children and adolescents with primary psychiatric illness.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the clinical experience with G/GJ tubes in child and adolescent psychiatry patients with disordered eating.

METHOD: Health Records and Image-Guided Therapy databases (1995-2005) identified patients with primary psychiatric illness who received radiologically placed G/GJ tubes for refeeding. Patient charts were reviewed for relevant data.

RESULTS

Nine patients who were 11-17 years old had G/GJ tubes inserted for refeeding as a result of their psychopathology. Prior to G/GJ tube insertion, adolescent inpatients were fed by NG/NJ tube for 0.5-7.3 months (mean 3.1 months) and subsequently fed by G/GJ tube for 5-60 months (mean 29 months) on an outpatient basis. No major complications or episodes of intentional tube manipulation/removal occurred. G/GJ tube feeding was effective in restoring and/or maintaining weight.

CONCLUSION

Image-guided enterostomy tubes are a safe and well-tolerated method for feeding pediatric patients with psychiatric disorders and food refusal, and allow outpatient management of underlying psychopathology.