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Is short-term percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube placement beneficial in acutely ill cognitively intact elderly
Rtika R Abraham1, Mohit Girotra, Jeanne Y Wei
1Department of Geriatrics and Reynolds Institute of Aging, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
Aim:
Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube is an important method of enteral feeding for patients who require temporary or long-term artificial nutritional support to prevent or correct disease-related malnutrition. However, there is paucity of data on the utility of short-term PEG tube placements in acute illnesses in cognitively intact older adults.
Methods:
We present a series of seven, cognitively intact patients (age range 72-93 years), who had PEG tubes placed for short periods. These patients were diagnosed with "failure to thrive" and were managed by placing a PEG tube temporarily for nutritional management. None of these patients had terminal illness or hospice eligibility, and all of the patients were community dwellers.
Results:
All of the elderly patients experienced good outcomes in terms of their functional status and nutritional support.
Conclusions:
Our series clearly supports the notion that short-term PEG tube placement in cognitively intact elderly patients could be a successful strategy to support them during an episode of acute illness, and to improve their nutritional deficits and survival.