| Abstract: | Purpose To determine infectious complications following PEG insertion with attention to the effect of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and timing of PEG insertion. Methodology A review of medical records of patients who underwent PEG insertion at a single institution between 1st July 2003 and 30th June 2005 was performed. PEG infection rate, antibiotic use, and concurrent chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy were recorded. Overall infection rate was calculated and a Quality Control Chart determined no evidence of an infectious outbreak. Results 96 PEG procedures were performed. 92.8% of patients had head and neck cancers, 90.6% had squamous cell carcinoma, 64.6% had distant disease. 71 of 96 patients were male, mean age 61.2 yrs, mean BMI 22.1 kg/m2. Median length of stay was 8 days for infected patients and 5 days for non‐infected patients; median follow‐up 21 days and 19 days respectively. 56 patients had prior chemo‐radiotherapy, 17 radiotherapy alone, 4 chemotherapy alone and 19 had no prior treatment. 14.6% patients had an infection. 21.4% of infected patients did not receive prophylactic antibiotics. Type of cancer, stage of cancer, and co‐morbidities were not predictive of infection. Chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy treatment before, during or after PEG insertion was not statistically significant for PEG infection. Conclusion An infection rate of 14.6% was found, which falls within the range outlined by other authors. Our study investigated a patient group with tumours, the majority of whom had chemo‐radiotherapy around the time of PEG insertion. There was no statistical difference in infection rate due to timing of PEG insertion and no difference with the use of chemo‐radiotherapy. |
