Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Our Experience: Evaluation of 66 Cases

Objective: While the patients who will not to be fed orally for less than a month are fed enterally with nasoenteral feeding tube, for the patients who are not able to take food orally more than a month gastrostomy application is recommended. Different gastrostomy techniques are used for this purpose. We aimed to discuss indications of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) in the patients who underwent PEG operation, their early or late complications and the management of these complications. Material and Methods: This study was performed simultaneously in two different hospitals between 01.06.2010- 05.01.2014. The files of 66 patients whose oral feeding is not possible and PEG administered for enteral nutrition were reviewed retrospectively. Results: The most common indications for PEG placement in 47 patients (71.2 %) was malnutrition due to cerebrovascular diseases. A major complication related to procedure was not observed. The most common minor complications were feeding intolerance in 5 (7.6 %) patients and occlusion of tube in 5 (7.6 %) patients. Serious wound infection accompanied by necrosis that requires surgical debridement developed in 3 (4.6 %) patients. Conclusion: PEG offers great advantages because of ease of application especially in the critical patients who are not able to be fed orally due to a problem at proximal part while their gastrointestinal system are intact, and with its capability of being applied even at bedside, not requiring serious anesthesia and team. It is gaining widespread use with the improvement of intensive care units in terms of number of beds and facilities. Major and minor complications encountered require a surgical overview because application is an ostomy procedure. Therefore, we consider that in the PEG applications performed by the physicians other than surgeons, it would be appropriate to follow up these patients together with surgery clinics.