Analysis of feasibility and outcome of bedside percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy versus open feeding gastrostomy in head injury patients

Abstract

BackgroundNutritional care in patients with a severe head injury is of utmost importance, as nutritional deficiency can affect the outcomes in these patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility, and an outcome of performing bedside percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in severe head injury patients. This study was conducted in a tertiary care institute. Patients with head injury with a Glasgow coma scale score ≤ 8 were included. Among 50 patients, 25 patients underwent percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and 25 patients underwent open feeding gastrostomy, within 72 h to up to 3 weeks from admission.ResultsThe commonest subset in the study population was between18 and 30 years age group. Among 50 patients 43 (86%) were men and 7 (14%) were women with the men to women ratio being 6:1. The mean operative time for performing PEG was 12.04 SD 3.72 min, whereas for open feeding gastrostomy was 96.8 SD 9.98 min which was statistically significant (P = 0.0001). The complication rate for the PEG subgroup was 24% and that for feeding gastrostomy was 56% which was statistically significant (P = 0.02).ConclusionsPercutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is a minimally invasive and time-saving procedure, which is superior to open feeding gastrostomy in terms of a prerequisite of anaesthesia, operating room, and few post-operative complications.