What am I looking at?
Visual recognition
Catheter exiting the epigastric wall into the stomach, with an internal retention balloon or loop and an external bumper.
12-03
Gastrostomy (G) tube
Gastric feeding tube
Three-panel learning framework
Recognition, context, and distinction
What does it do, and where will I see it?
Use & procedural context
Percutaneously placed tube into the stomach for long-term enteral feeding, hydration, or decompression, secured by a retention balloon or pigtail after gastropexy. Typical procedural contexts include dysphagia, head-and-neck or esophageal cancer, neurologic impairment, and failed endoscopic (PEG) placement.
What most clearly distinguishes it from similar devices?
Key distinctions
A gastrostomy tube terminates in the stomach and is retained by an internal balloon or loop, unlike a GJ tube whose distal feeding limb continues into the jejunum.