1.
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol
; 271(6): 1755-8, 2014 Jun.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24071857
ABSTRACT
To evaluate the use and complications of a prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) in head and cancer patients in our institute. A retrospective study of 194 consecutive patients with a newly diagnosed upper aero digestive tract malignancy who underwent mainly prophylactic PEG tube placement. The procedure is relatively safe: 15 (7.7%) of the complications were considered serious; no deaths occurred. Of the patients 23 (12.5%) did not use the PEG tube at all, but it was not possible to single out a group of patients in which this could be predicted. The majority of the patients were considered to benefit from the prophylactic PEG insertion.