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.
Gastrostomy provides a direct highway to nutrition when the normal route from mouth to stomach is blocked or compromised - it's literally a shortcut that bypasses swallowing entirely! This procedure has transformed care for patients with stroke, neurological diseases, or head and neck cancers, allowing them to receive proper nutrition even when they can't swallow safely.
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