Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: Patients' outcomes, adequacy and quality of information given to decision-makers and procedure acceptance.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to evaluate patients' survival and complications after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement, the quality of information given to the decision-makers (relatives) before the procedure and their overall acceptance of the intervention.


METHODS
We interviewed the relatives of 35 patients who underwent PEG tube placement in our facility from January 2008 to December 2009, using a structured questionnaire.


RESULTS
Thirty-day survival rate was 83%. The cumulative median survival was 35 (95% CI: 27.7-42.3) days and it was not related to patient's underlying condition. No patient died due to procedure related complication. Apart from topical skin reactions (26%), major complications, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, vomiting and tube misplacement were not common (3-11%). Although 83% of the decision-makers considered that they had provided an informed decision after being given comprehensive information about the procedure, 71% said that they had not adequately been informed about alternative methods. One third of the relatives considered that the intervention met their expectations and 67% of them would recommend PEG to other patients suffering from dysphagia. However, only 26% of decision-makers would consent again for PEG tube placement for their patient, while 69% did not answer this question.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients' outcomes after PEG tube placement are favorable. However, several decision-makers are not satisfied with the quality of information given before informed consent while the acceptance of the intervention is not very high.
Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2 Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Attikon University General Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Athens, Greece.
Petros
P
Stathopoulos
Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2 Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Attikon University General Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Athens, Greece.
George
G
Karamanolis
Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2 Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Attikon University General Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Athens, Greece.
Ioannis S
IS
Papanikolaou
Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2 Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Attikon University General Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Athens, Greece.
Dimitrios
D
Polymeros
Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2 Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Attikon University General Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Athens, Greece.
Angelos A
AA
Papadopoulos
Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 2 Department of Internal Medicine - Propaedeutic, Attikon University General Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Athens, Greece.
Konstantinos
K
Triantafyllou
acceptance; decision-makers; information; outcome; percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy