Feeding tubes

Your body needs a steady supply of calories, protein and water to heal and stay strong. A feeding tube helps when you cannot safely swallow, cannot eat enough by mouth or cannot keep food down. It can be short term, for example during cancer treatment, or long term.

A feeding tube does not always mean you stop eating. Many people still eat and drink by mouth for pleasure and use the tube to make up the difference. Your speech therapist and doctors will tell you what is safe.

Feeding tubes are named for where the tip ends up. Your team chooses based on how well your stomach works and your risk of food coming back up into your lungs, called aspiration.

On the X-ray screen, a small amount of contrast dye makes the stomach and intestine look like white outlines. That lets us see exactly where the tube tip sits.

Feeding tubes can be placed in three ways: by a gastroenterologist using an endoscope through the mouth (called a PEG), by a surgeon, or by an interventional radiologist using X-ray guidance. We place them with X-ray. This works well when an endoscope cannot pass, for example because of a tumor in the throat or esophagus. It does not require passing a scope through the mouth.

A thin tube goes through your nose into the stomach to fill it with a little air. Small anchors called T-fasteners hold the stomach against the belly wall. Then the tube is placed through a small opening in the skin. A balloon inside holds it in place. You receive moderate sedation, so you are relaxed but awake.

When I plan a feeding tube, I look at the CT to see where the stomach sits under the ribs and whether the colon or liver is in the way. I also ask how the patient will use it: bolus meals at home, a pump overnight or just medicines. That answer often decides between a G tube and a GJ tube more than anything on the scan.

Fabio Komlos, MD, interventional radiologist · About Dr. Fabio Komlos

A feeding tube is a tool, not a requirement. For short-term needs of a few weeks, a thin tube through the nose, called a nasogastric tube, may be enough. It needs no procedure, but it is uncomfortable and easy to pull out, so it is not a good long-term choice.

For people with advanced illness, such as late-stage dementia, studies have not shown that feeding tubes help people live longer or prevent pneumonia. In that situation, careful hand feeding focused on comfort is often the kinder choice. We encourage you to talk openly with your doctors and family about your goals before deciding. See palliative cancer care for more on care focused on comfort.