Efficacy and adverse events of laparoscopic gastrostomy placement in children: results of a large cohort study

Introduction: A gastrostomy placement is frequently performed in pediatric patients who require long-term enteral tube feeding. However, data on efficacy, perioperative complications and postoperative gastroesophageal reflux (GER) after laparoscopic gastrostomy (LAG) placement is limited. The aim of this study is to evaluate long-term efficacy and adverse events after LAG in a large cohort and determine whether routine preoperative 24-h pH monitoring should be used to predict postoperative GER. Method: A retrospective observational cohort study was performed including 300 patients (75 % neurologically impaired) that underwent LAG. Results: After a median follow-up of 2.63 years, feeding was successful in 95.9 % of patients. Weight-for-length z-scores significantly increased (p