[Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: prospective experience at a national private center]

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube feeding is a safe and effective method of providing long-term enteral nutrition in patients who are unable to swallow and offers important advantages over nasogastric tub feeding. The indications of this procedure have been received and over 7 years of practice on 103 patients and 128 procedures have been experienced with Ponsky pull techniques. All patients were given vitamin K and a prophylactic antibiotic (chephalotine) prior to testing. 1.56% of major deadly complications have been reports both for reflux and aspiration at 48 and 72 hours post treatment. The most common minor complication was wound infection in 8.9% of patients. There was no further mortality during testing or while undergoing treatment in the following 30 days. All patients were suffering from post heart attack dementia and stroke (CVA) at a rate of 23.3% and 21.4%, respectively. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy has become the method of choice to sustain long-term enteral nutrition.