• Kathryn R Byrne and John C Fang.
• Division of Gastroenterology, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
• Curr. Opin. Gastroenterol. 2006 Sep 1; 22 (5): 546-50.

Purpose Of ReviewCritical to realizing increasing benefits of enteral nutrition are techniques for feeding tube placement. Feeding tubes can be placed by bedside, endoscopic, fluoroscopic, and surgical methods. This review encompasses noteworthy studies on endoscopic approaches to enteral feeding published from January 2005 to the present.Recent FindingsStudies involving placement of nasoenteric feeding tubes include description of new methods for endoscopic nasoenteric feeding tube placement using a push technique with a stiffened tube, a modification of the 'drag and pull' method using a distal suture tie, and placement using an ultrathin transnasal endoscopic technique compared with fluoroscopic placement. Recent studies involving percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube placement have demonstrated equivalent outcomes of endoscopic and fluoroscopic approaches, description of unsedated placement using transnasal technique, and risk of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy site metastasis in head and neck cancer patients. Studies on percutaneous jejunal feeding tubes demonstrate: high complication rate and short functional duration of percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy and reported outcomes of direct percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy placement.SummaryEnteral nutrition access can be obtained by a variety of methods depending on local expertise and resources. Endoscopic approaches have equivalent or better outcomes than other methods; however, these methods may still have limitations and distinct complications.

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