Laparoscopic Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Is Useful for Elderly

BACKGROUND: In recent years, enteral nutrition has become relatively easy to perform through the penetration of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). However, there have been reports of complications, such as mispuncture of other organs at the time of performing PEG. Previously, we had constructed a gastrostomy under the laparotomy for difficult PEG cases, and 2 years ago, we introduced laparoscopically assisted PEG. This study aimed to clarify the feasibility and safety of LAPEG for elderly people over 65 years old. METHODS: We evaluated the perioperative outcomes in 7 elderly patients who underwent LAPEG during these 2 years. In these subjects, the safety of LAPEG was evaluated retrospectively based on the surgical outcomes, perioperative complications, and postoperative course using the clinical archives. RESULTS: The subjects' mean age was 81.1 ± 8.03 years. LAPEG was successful in all 7 patients. The median operation time was 38 minutes (range, 31–71 minutes). Intraoperative and postoperative early or late complications from LAPEG were not observed in our cases. Enteral nutrition was commenced 2 days after PEG placement in all cases without complications. CONCLUSION: We summarized the LAPEG cases performed at our institution for the elderly, and have reported its feasibility and safety. The strongest advantage of LAPEG was that it allowed placement of the PEG without any complication under direct observation of the intraperitoneal cavity to confirm the safety of each organ.