Gastrojejunal (GJ) tube feeding: developing a service and evaluating associated complications in a paediatric surgical centre

Introduction Gastrojejunal (GJ) tubes are becoming an established alternative method of delivering nutrition to children who do not tolerate gastric feeding. However, there is limited literature surrounding patient outcomes, the longevity of tubes or complications. We aim to highlight the development and evaluation of a service to provide children with GJ tube feeding . Materials and methods A retrospective case-note review of children either undergoing an initial gastrostomy to gastrojejunal tube conversion or gastrojejunal tube replacement in our tertiary paediatric surgical centre between January 2015 and June 2018. Results 134 GJ feeding tubes were placed in 33 neurologically impaired children with a median age of 4.9 years (8 months–17 years) having a median 4 tube placements per child (1–11) within the study period. All tubes were 14 or 16 Fr ‘AMT G-JET’ tubes with a median replacement time of 174.9 days (13–504 days). The most common indication was foregut dysmotility in children with global developmental delay. The complication rate was 34.3% (46 tubes). In the study period, 2 patients (6.1%) reverted to oral feeding, 6 patients (18.2%) to gastric feeding and 25 children (75.7%) continued with jejunal feeding. No child required fundoplication. There were no procedure-related mortalities or mortality. Conclusions GJ tube feeding is an effective and safe method of managing children with foregut dysmotility. Many patients do not require permanent jejunal feeding, and thus the reversibility of this method is an asset. A dedicated team is needed to co-ordinate tube replacements and provide efficient long-term jejunal feeding. Level of evidence IV.