A Double-Edged Sword and Swinging Pendulum: The Evolving Role of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tubes in Patients with Advanced Dementia

Abstract

Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) tubes have been increasingly utilized in recent decades accompanying the rise in prevalence of disorders that require long-term non oral enteral feeding such as Cerebrovascular accident (CVA), head and neck cancer and most notably advanced dementia.1,2 The population of patients with dementia is expected to increase worldwide due to shifts in aging demographics leading to an estimate of 81 million people with this condition by 2040.