Safety of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tubes in Centenarian Patients

Abstract

Background/aims: Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is a relatively safe procedure; however, no study has evaluated the safety of PEG tube placement in patients over the age of 100 years.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patient records for patients who underwent PEG tube placement. Thirty patients aged 100 years and older were identified and a random sample of 275 patients was selected for comparison.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 80.6±16.2 years. No procedure-related deaths or major complications were identified; the overall inpatient mortality rate was 7.6%. Minor complications were noted in 4% (n=12) of the patients. Centenarian patients were predominantly female (80% [n=24] vs. 54% [n=147], p=0.006), with a mean age of 100.5±0.9 years. There was no significant difference in procedural success rates (93.3% vs. 97.4%, p=0.222) or inpatient mortality (6.7% [n=2] vs. 7.7% [n=21], p=1.000) between the two groups. However, a higher minor complication rate was noted in the older patients (13.3% [n=4] vs. 2.9% [n=8], p=0.022).

Conclusions: Success rates, major complications and inpatient mortality associated with PEG tubes in patients aged over 100 years are comparable to those observed in relatively younger patients at our center; however minor complication rates are relatively higher. These findings lead us to believe that PEG tubes may be safely attempted in carefully selected patients in this subset of the population.

Keywords: Aged, 80 and over; Geriatric patients; Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.

Fig. 1.

Rates of unsuccessful procedure (p=0.222), complications (p=0.022), and in-hospital mortality (p=1) between the two groups, as well as those reported in the literature. Note that the data from literature is reported as ranges in the discussion; the upper limit of the range is plotted on the graph. Statistical analysis is only between our patients, data from literature is plotted for illustrative purposes.