Percutaneus Endoscopic Gastrostomy in Intensive Care Unit

Since its introduction in the early 1980s, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) technique has been used to create a reliable route for long term enteral feeding in cri0,0tically ill patients. Our goals were to determine the complications of PEG in ICU patients.We evaluated the data of 13 intensive care unit patients undergoing bedside PEG for gastric tube placement using the “pull” technique. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was completed and gastric tube was placed successfully in all patients. Tubes remained in stomach from 13 to 831 days (mean 146 days). Six patients died because of the reasons unrelated to the PEG tube and seven patients were discharged from the hospital while being fed via the PEG. Nutritional intolerance (in 4 patients) and bleeding (in 3 patients) were observed and could be eradicated by appropriate maintenance. Bleeding was the main PEG complication observed in critically ill patients