In the XVIII century, John Hunter described for the first time the use of a gastric feeding tube, later, Physick used to carry out a gastric
lavage, later on, Sedillot in France, during the middle of the XIX century, described the first surgical gastrostomy.
The first description of a technique to minimize the transparietal access for gastrostomies was by Harry Fenwick on the September 18th
1884 and published in the Annals of Surgery. The gold standard technique to perform a gastrostomy is the percutaneous approach. In patients with head and neck disorders
when is not possible to insert a nasogastric tube to insuflate the stomach, a single port laparoscopic gastrostomy would be indicated.
The range of age was from 54 to 87 y/o with a mean age of 72. All the patients had head and neck tumors with no possibility to get access to
the stomach through a nasogastric tube. Reason why a percutaneous or endoscopic gastrostomy couldnât be performed.
Last date updated on July, 2014
