Gastrostomy button: clinical appraisal.

We retrospectively studied all gastrostomy buttons inserted in the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane between 1988 and 1995. One hundred and thirty-two patients (M = 60, F = 72) and 388 buttons were analysed. Intellectual handicap and cystic fibrosis comprised the majority of patients. Thirty-three patients had gastrostomy buttons inserted primarily, whereas, 99 patients received gastrostomy buttons inserted into matured gastrostomy stoma. The average longevity of all determined buttons (n = 280) was 360.43 days (SD = 310.24). The first buttons inserted primarily (n = 25) had longer longevity than the first buttons inserted into matured gastrostomy stoma (n = 82) with statistical significance. The average longevity of subsequent buttons was significantly less than the first buttons. Valve incompetence and leakage of gastric content around the shaft were the most common causes of button removal. We concluded that the gastrostomy button is the method of choice for long term enteral feeding in children.