The Changing Face of Hospitalizations Due to Gastrointestinal Complications

insertion in 22 subjects (6.1%) and blood came from the stomach into the catheter in 17 (4.7%).Proper catheter placement could be confirmed by the litmus paper turning red in 360 subjects (98.9%).Testing with litmus paper failed because 1) Considerable bile reflux into the stomach turned the paper yellow; 2) Large amounts of saliva flowing into the stomach made it difficult to interpret the color change.The test was repeated two hours later, demonstrating the paper turned red in the remaining subjects.Conclusions: Gastrostomy catheter replacement using a rod was a very safe procedure.Litmus paper allowed confirmation that the replacement catheter was properly positioned in the stomach whether or not bleeding occurred inside or outside the stomach.The procedure appears to provide an easy and useful means of catheter replacement to home or nursing-home settings where radiographic equipment is not available.