A surgical procedure that creates an opening through the abdominal wall directly into the stomach, typically for long-term feeding when normal eating is not possible. A feeding tube (G-tube) is usually placed through this opening.
From Greek 'gaster' (stomach) and 'stoma' (mouth or opening), literally meaning 'stomach opening.' The procedure was first performed in the 1870s and has evolved to include percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), a less invasive technique developed in 1980.
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