Risks of PEG tube placement in patients with cirrhosis-associated ascites

This study examined the safety of placing percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube in people with liver cirrhosis. The target population was further subdivided into people with ascites (case group) and people without ascites (control). We compare the morbidity and the mortality difference of PEG placement in cirrhotic patients with ascites vs cirrhotic patients without ascites. We then examined multiple factors including sex, race, chronic illness including hypertension, congestive heart failure, and others and their influence on the inpatient mortality of all cirrhotic patients who had PEG placement. A total of 38,175 inpatient PEG tube placements were identified. Only 583 patients out of 38,175 had a history of cirrhosis. One hundred seven had ascites and the rest did not. Mean age of the patients was 61.14 years. Patient demography included (65.2%) male and the rest were female, 359 were white (64.4%), 90 black (14.8%), 84 Hispanic (13.7%), 23 Asians (3.3%), 7 Native Americans (0.4%), and 20 others (3.5%). Complications from PEG procedure in cirrhosis with ascites vs non-ascites included bleeding of 4 (0.8%) vs 2 (1.9%) (P=0.35), surgical site infection 2 (0.4%) vs 1 (0.9%) (P=0.51), and urinary tract infection 105 (22.1%) vs 34 (23.8%) (P=0.34), respectively. There was no colonic injury in either group. The total inpatient mortality was 75 out of the 583. Fifty-six (11.8%) were in the ascites group and 19 (17.8%) in the non-ascites group (P=0.097). Factors including ascites, postsurgical bleeding, and surgical site infection did not have influence on the inpatient mortality and there were no statistical differences between the two groups.