May chronic cough in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease be a contraindication of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy placement: a case report

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) can involve some complications, despite the good safety of its track record. The Buried Bumper Syndrome (BBS) is a rare, late and dangerous complication that consists in the erosion of the internal bumper through the gastric wall. Case presentation We report the development of BBS in a man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who had a persistent chronic cough which was prevalently but not solely in the morning and required placement of a PEG tube for continuous infusion of Levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel for advanced Parkinson's disease. CONCLUSION: We believe that COPD with chronic cough while not representing an absolute contraindication to PEG placement, may potentially cause BBS and therefore an appropriate regimen of tube care by expert personnel is mandatory in this setting.