Endoscopic Gastrostomy

Gastrostomy is that the creation of a synthetic external opening into the stomach for nutritional support or gastric decompression. Typically this might include an incision within the patient's epigastrium as a part of a proper operation. It may be performed through surgical approach, percutaneous approach by interventional radiology, or percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. This provides enteral nutrition (making use of the natural digestion process of the gastrointestinal tract) despite bypassing the mouth; enteral nutrition is mostly preferable to parenteral nutrition (which is simply used when the alimentary canal must be avoided). The PEG procedure is an alternate to open surgical gastrostomy insertion, and doesn't require a general anesthetic; mild sedation is often used.