Intestinal Research  2014;12(3):251-255

doi:10.5217/ir.2014.12.3.251

Two Cases of Gastrocolocutaneous Fistula with a Long Asymptomatic Period after Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy.

Hyo Sun KIM 1 ; Chang Seok BANG ; Yeon Soo KIM ; Oh Kyung KWON ; Min Sun PARK ; Jeong Ho EOM ; Gwang Ho BAIK ; Dong Joon KIM

Affiliations

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Keywords

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; Gastrocolocutaneous fistula

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

Gastrocolocutaneous fistula is a rare complication of the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) procedure. Typical symptoms usually occur in the first few months. We recently encountered 2 patients with 8- and 33-month asymptomatic periods. A 74-year-old man presented with watery diarrhea for 1 month. He had undergone PEG 9 months earlier. During workup, an upper endoscopy and abdominal CT scan revealed the migration of the feeding tube into the transverse colon. He was discharged with a nasogastric tube after treatment. A 77-year-old man presented with sudden loosening of his PEG tube with a duration over 3 days. He had undergone PEG procedure three times until that time. During workup, a gastrocolocutaneous fistula was diagnosed. However, when previous studies were reviewed, an abdominal CT scan, which was done 6 months ago before the third PEG, showed the fistula already existed at that time, suggesting that it was created about 33 months earlier when he underwent the second PEG procedure. The patient died of pneumonia aggravation despite conservative treatment. Both a high index of suspicion and the careful inspection of the upper endoscopy are very important for early diagnosis regardless of symptoms.