ENTERAL LONG-TERM NUTRITION VIA PERCUTANEOUS ENDOSCOPIC GASTROSTOMY (PEG) IN 210 PATIENTS - A 4-YEAR PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

After PEG placement at the Medical Department of the University Hospit al in Kiel, 210 patients (mean age 61.3 years; 137 men, 73 women) were prospectively followed-up for 133 +/- 181 days. Close-meshed evaluati ons of the development of nutritional status, long-term outcome, compl ications, subjective acceptability, patient care after discharge from the hospital, survival, and nutritional long-term problems were perfor med. The PEG procedure (duration 13.3 +/- 4.2 min) was carried out for neurological (42%), ear-nose-throat (28%), and internal medical (30%) indications. Procedure-related mortality was 0%, while altogether 3.8 % severe and 20.0% mild complications were observed. Body weight decre ased by a mean of 11.4 +/- 1.5 kg in the three months before and incre ased by 3.5 +/- 1.7 kg one year after PEG placement with no significan t differences between malignant or benign underlying diseases. Individ ual subjective acceptability was excellent in 83%, sufficient in 15%, and poor in 2% of patients only. One-year survival rate was 34.3%. The various results of the present prospective study demonstrate that lon g-term enteral feeding via PEG is a safe, effective, easy-to-practice, and highly acceptable method with excellent long-term results and dis tinct improvement of nutritional status. Individual decisions for PEG placement should be considered much earlier and more frequently in app ropriate patients.