ABSTRACT
I. BRIEF HISTORY Enteral feeding has clearly been demonstrated to be the preferred choice of nutritional supplementation for patients with a functioning gastrointestinal tract. This can best be provided through a gastric or jejunal tube, which has traditionally been surgically placed via a laparotomy. The gastrostomy tube was first described by Egeberg in 1837 and first successfully performed in a human by Sedillot in 1849. However, there were numerous complications of intra-abdominal leakage until Vemeuil in 1876 devised a method to appose the stomach to the abdominal wall using a silver wire. Vemeuil's patient was the first to survive following gastrostomy. Subsequently, there were many modifications, including those by Witzel (1891), Senn (1896), Stamm (1894), and Janeway (1906). The most common technique for open gastrostomy currently is still the century-old Stamm gastrostomy. This procedure uses concentric purse string sutures to hold the catheter in the stomach. The first jejunostomy tube was placed by a French surgeon in 1879. Again, several modifications have occurred over the next century. The most common technique for open jejunostomy currently is the Witzel jejunostomy, which uses a serosal tunnel to prevent intra-abdominal leakage from the catheter entrance site.
