Pause before a PEG: A feeding tube may not be necessary in every candidate!

Krishna P. Aparanji, T. S. Dharmarajan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomies (PEGs) are a means to provide nutrition in older adults incapable of normal adequate nutrient intake. Often decisions to insert a PEG in patients with illness and dementia are made hastily, before exhausting every means of feeding and full evaluation for the potential to regain capacity to feed normally. Further, ethical aspects often cloud such decisions, with data not supporting meaningful long-term improvement in outcomes or quality of life for the recipient of a PEG. Our case illustrates the story of a nursing home resident in whom an organized approach determined a reversible basis for his inability to feed and the potential to avoid tube insertion.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)453-456
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of the American Medical Directors Association
Volume11
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2010

Keywords

  • Dysphagia
  • Outcomes with PEG
  • PEG
  • Quality of life

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Nursing
  • Health Policy
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology

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