A Life Saving but Inadequately Discussed Procedure: Tube Duodenostomy—So Far the Known and Unknown Aspects

Excerpt

This article, with its peculiar title, presents the authors’ experience with 31 patients treated with tube duodenostomy (TD). Like most such retrospective studies, this one is a “mix bag” that includes three main groups of patients: (1) those who underwent “primary” TD “for possible insecure duodenal stump” following gastrectomy for complicated duodenal ulcers; (2) patients in whom the TD was inserted into the duodenal stump during reoperation for duodenal leaks (which occurred following gastrectomy) or when the gastrectomy was added during reoperation; (3) gastric cancer patients undergoing “extended duodenal resection to achieve a free distal margin” or those undergoing “palliative” gastrectomy in whom “duodenal infiltration did not allow secure duodenal stump closure.” …