Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding is beneficial in patients with advanced dementia.

Abstract

We aimed to show the long-term results of patients who received percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tubes and to evaluate the usefulness of this method in advanced dementia patients, which is considered to be of controversial benefit in the literature. Therefore, we compared three groups of patients: advanced dementia patients fed via PEG, stroke patients fed via PEG and advanced dementia patients not fed via PEG. In total, 305 files of patients who underwent PEG implantation were screened retrospectively, and 283 were analyzed. A total of 93 advanced dementia patients who were not fed via PEG were included as the control group, and the PEG-fed group was compared in terms of mortality and CRP levels with the advanced dementia control group not fed via PEG. The median length of PEG stay was 9 months. In total, 49 (17.5%) patients developed complications. Mortality (p=0.0002) and CRP levels (p=0.01) were statistically significant in the advanced dementia group not fed via PEG. The group with stroke and the dementia patients were analyzed regarding length of PEG stay, complications and mortality. The length of PEG stay, rate of complications and mortality in the stroke group were not found to be statistically significant in comparison to the dementia group. Mortality and CRP levels were statistically significantly higher in the advanced dementia group not fed via PEG. The mortality and rate of complications in the dementia group were similar to those in the stroke group. Feeding with PEG-tubes is a proper and preferable method for advanced dementia patients.