Radiologically inserted gastrostomy: differences of maintenance of balloon- vs. loop-retained devices

AbstractPurpose: To compare outcome and associated complications of ballon- vs. loop-retained devices for radiologically inserted gastrostomy(RIG).Methods: From 2007 to 2011 233 patients (age 63.7 ± 10.6 years) were referred for a RIG because of pharyngeal stricture Intervention was performed with four different devices: balloon-retained – Freka® GastroTube, Fresenius Kabi (n = 121); MIC® Gastrostomy Feeding Tube, Kimberly–Clark (n = 34); Russell® GastrostomyTray, Cook Medical Inc. (n = 17); and loop-retained – Tilma® GastrostomySet, Cook Medical Inc. (n = 50). Follow-up was performed with regard to RIG-related complications, cause of removal and fatalities. Revision-free survival times after RIG were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier analysis and group differences by log-rank tests. For analysis of demographic and methodical variables multivariate Cox regression models were used.Results: With a primary technical success rate of 95.3% (222/233) a total of 92 instances of revisions were necessary in 66 patie...