Routine gastrostomy tube placement in children: Does preoperative screening upper gastrointestinal contrast study alter the operative plan?

Background Upper GI (UGI) studies are routinely ordered to screen for malrotation before routine placement of gastrostomy (G) tubes. However, the usefulness of this study is unknown. Methods A retrospective review of children with surgically placed G-tubes over a 2 year period (2011-2013) was performed. Patients with concomitant fundoplications were excluded. Results Three hundred ninety-three patients underwent G-tube placement. Of these, 299 patients (76%) had preoperative UGI, and 11 patients (3.7%) were identified with malrotation on UGI. Five (1.7%) patients underwent a Ladd's procedure. The remaining 6 either had malrotation associated with gastroschisis (n = 5) or were lost to follow-up (n = 1). Children < 1 year did not have different rates of malrotation compared to older children (4.3% vs. 3.2%, p = 0.617). Likewise, children with neurologic impairment (NI) had similar rates of malrotation compared to neurologically normal (NN) children (2.6% vs. 3.8%, p = 0.692). The only significant difference in malrotation rate was between those with congenital gastrointestinal anomalies (24%) and those without (1.5%) (p < 0.001). Conclusion Preoperative screening UGI before routine G-tube placement led to an unexpected diagnosis of malrotation in only 1.7%. Given the added radiation risk associated with an UGI, our data suggest that an UGI is unnecessary prior to routine G-tube placement. A larger prospective study is warranted to validate these results.