AN EVALUATION OF PERCUTANEOUS ENDOSCOPIC GASTROSTOMY FEEDING IN AIDS

Between October 1991 and October 1993, 17 AIDS patients (14 intravenou s drug users, 3 sexually acquired) were commenced on percutaneous endo scopic gastrostomy (PEG) feeding in St James's Hospital. Indications w ere progressive weight loss related to severe anorexia (11), persisten t oesophageal candidiasis (5) and absence of gag reflex (1). Two patie nts requested PEG tube removal after one week because of crampy abdomi nal pain without peritonitis. Fis e patients died from AIDS related in fections within 6 weeks of PEG insertion. Ten patients were followed u p for > 2 months (mean 5.2 months, range 2.5-15.5 months). Ln these 10 patients, 1 patient developed a PEG site infection which responded to topical antibiotics. There were no other complications. There was a s ignificant (P<0.001) increase in energy and protein intake at 2 months . Variant degrees of weight gain occurred in all patients (mean 2.6 kg ) (P<0.01). Small but significant increases in other anthropometric va riables occurred. Patients who died within 6 weeks of PEG insertion we re older, and had a lower serum albumin than the group who survived > 2 months (P<0.01). A self-administered questionnaire demonstrated that the majority of patients found PEG feeding acceptable and preferable to nasogastric (NG) feeding.