Investigation and prediction of enteral nutrition problems after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy

Ethical Implications of Nutrition Therapy at the End of Life

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Provide an evidence-based resource to inform ethically sound recommendations regarding end of life nutrition therapy.

RECENT FINDINGS

• Some patients with a reasonable performance status can temporarily benefit from medically administered nutrition and hydration(MANH) at the end of life. • MANH is contraindicated in advanced dementia. • MANH eventually becomes nonbeneficial or harmful in terms of survival, function, and comfort for all patients at end of life. • Shared decision-making is a practice based on relational autonomy, and the ethical gold standard in end of life decisions. A treatment should be offered if there is expectation of benefit, but clinicians are not obligated to offer non-beneficial treatments. A decision to proceed or not should be based on the patient's values and preferences, a discussion of all potential outcomes, prognosis for given outcomes taking into consideration disease trajectory and functional status, and physician guidance provided in the form of a recommendation.

Single endoscopist-performed percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube placement

AIM: To investigate whether single endoscopist-performed percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is safe and to compare the complications of PEG with those reported in the literature.

METHODS: Patients who underwent PEG placement between June 2001 and August 2011 at the Baskent University Alanya Teaching and Research Center were evaluated retrospectively. Patients whose PEG was placed for the first time by a single endoscopist were enrolled in the study. PEG was performed using the pull method. All of the patients were evaluated for their indications for PEG, major and minor complications resulting from PEG, nutritional status, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and the use of antibiotic treatment or antibiotic prophylaxis prior to PEG. Comorbidities, rates, time and reasons for mortality were also evaluated. The reasons for PEG removal and PEG duration were also investigated.

RESULTS: Sixty-two patients underwent the PEG procedure for the first time during this study. Eight patients who underwent PEG placement by 2 endoscopists were not enrolled in the study. A total of 54 patients were investigated. The patients’ mean age was 69.9 years. The most common indication for PEG was cerebral infarct, which occurred in approximately two-thirds of the patients. The mean albumin level was 3.04 ± 0.7 g/dL, and 76.2% of the patients’ albumin levels were below the normal values. The mean CRP level was high in 90.6% of patients prior to the procedure. Approximately two-thirds of the patients received antibiotics for either prophylaxis or treatment for infections prior to the PEG procedure. Mortality was not related to the procedure in any of the patients. Buried bumper syndrome was the only major complication, and it occurred in the third year. In such case, the PEG was removed and a new PEG tube was placed via surgery. Eight patients (15.1%) experienced minor complications, 6 (11.1%) of which were wound infections. All wound infections except one recovered with antibiotic treatment. Two patients had bleeding from the PEG site, one was resolved with primary suturing and the other with fresh frozen plasma transfusion.

CONCLUSION: The incidence of major and minor complications is in keeping with literature. This finding may be noteworthy, especially in developing countries.

Long-term percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: characteristic computed tomographic findings

Patients with a long-term PEG may suffer from complications and received physical and endoscopic examinations. However, these examinations do not provide information between skin and stomach. We present the findings of computed tomography (CT) for patients with long-term percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). After 1 year PEG (183 patients), 57 patients had received CT examinations. Skin indentation, soft-tissue thickening, peritoneal gap, internal bumper migration, and clinical abnormalities detected by CT examination were recorded. Thickness of subcutaneous fat, muscle, and abdominal wall along the tract were measured. The same parameters at 3 cm away from the tract were obtained for comparison. CT demonstrated that 28 (49.1%) patients present soft-tissue thickening, 19 (33.3%) patients present skin indentation, and 24 (42.1%) patients present a peritoneal gap. One patient with internal bumper migration, 3 patients had buried bumper syndrome, 2 patients had gastric herniation, and 1 patient had esophageal cancer metastasizes to the PEG site. Thickness of subcutaneous fat, muscle, and abdominal wall decreased significant. CT can provide detailed anatomy and orientation along the PEG tube. Familiarity of the CT appearance can minimize potential complications before PEG tube replacement.

Electrical stimulation for the management of aspiration during swallowing

Protection of the airway during swallow is often compromised following stroke and other neurological diseases. If a patient fails to recover airway protection with standard therapy, they are often left with few if any options to avoid repeated pneumonia resulting from aspiration. For them, the only option is no food by mouth and a PEG-tube for nutrition. Functional electrical stimulation offers possible solutions for restoring airway protection. Here we report the capabilities of transtracheal stimulation for vocal fold closure and selective stimulation of the XII cranial nerve to produce elevation of the hyolaryngotracheal complex. These stimulation locations add to our toolbox for managing swallowing difficulties and allow patients to maintain oral feeding.

Biological observation during the daytime of elderly patients with advanced dementia cared for with and without artificial nutrition by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy

AIM

To clarify the activity of demented patients cared for with and without artificial nutrition in a care facility, sequential biological observation was applied using electroencephalograms (EEG), electromyograms (EMG) and electro-oculograms (EOG).

METHODS

Awake and sleep patterns and spontaneous swallowing were measured during the daytime in 13 patients with advanced dementia who could orally intake meals (OR patients), and 13 patients with advanced dementia, who received artificial nutrition by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG patients).

RESULTS

The awake/sleep pattern fluctuated during daytime in OR and PEG patients, but a fully awake state was relatively preserved around meal times in OR patients. The number of spontaneous swallowing was small in PEG patients (0.1 ± 0.3/h), and the value correlated with the Barthel Index in OR patients.

CONCLUSION

Continuous recording of biological activity in demented patients could be informative in providing an overview of their activities. The present results disclosed that meal times were the limited periods keeping OR patients awake consistently, while there was no opportunity for such periods for PEG patients. The number of spontaneous swallowing was especially small in PEG patients, although low Mini-Mental State Examination and Barthel Index scores and poor awake state during daytime were considerable in those patients.

Possibility of oral feeding after induction of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Although percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) has become established as a useful enteral nutrition technique, the associated risks must always be kept in mind. Recently, we experienced several patients who could orally ingest after PEG. To avoid unnecessary PEG, we investigated patients who could orally ingest after PEG, and analyzed predictive factors of postoperative oral feeding.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed data of 302 patients who underwent PEG at our hospital. After all patients were divided according to postoperative oral feeding status, we assessed factors of patients' backgrounds. In patients who could orally ingest after PEG, we investigated the course of oral feeding status. We attempted to identify predictive factors for postoperative oral feeding using logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Mean age was high in both groups, and overall condition was markedly poor. Forty-four patients (15%) were able to ingest orally after PEG. Enteral nutrition could be avoided during our observation period in 15 cases, because sufficient oral intake was achieved. Conversely, oral feeding was reduced or discontinued in 14 cases. Multivariate analysis identified the following independent predictive factors for postoperative oral feeding: (i) absence of dysphagia or aphagia; (ii) younger age; (iii) favorable performance status; (iv) presence of post-traumatic encephalopathy; and (v) preoperative swallowing training.

CONCLUSIONS

A total of 15% of PEG cases were able to ingest orally after PEG. In patients showing positive predictive factors, indications for PEG should be carefully considered.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding: indications and management

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) has become one of the most useful and established enteral nutrition techniques available to patients requiring nutritional support worldwide. Good nutrition and the receiving of essential nutrients and electrolytes are vital for growth, healing, repair and delivery of essential energy to carry out daily tasks. The article looks specifically at PEG as a form of enteral nutrition delivery, how it is undertaken, and the care needs of the patient post-insertion of a PEG tube.