Attitude and experience of neurologists towards percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: an Egyptian study

Background Dysphagia is a common symptom among various neurological diseases. Guidelines recommend gastrostomy insertion for prolonged dysphagia with lower rate of intervention failure encountered with percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) as compared to nasogastric tube insertion. Methods Neurology consultants only were included and completed a self-administered questionnaire concerning their practice backgrounds and previous experience with PEG feeding during their practice. Results Ninety-eight percent stated that they would recommend PEG for patients with prolonged need of nasogastric feeding. However, only 88% actually referred patients to perform PEG, with the cerebrovascular disorders being the most common cases to be referred. The main barriers the surveyed neurologists faced were family resistance and financial reasons (53.5%). Interestingly, younger neurologists practicing for less than 15 years referred patient to perform PEG significantly more frequent than older ones (p= 0.01). About 18% of our sample confirmed the lack of sufficient knowledge about the benefits of PEG feeding, and only 22% previously attended scientific sessions about the benefits and indications of PEG. Conclusion Based on our study, we recommend that PEG should be more encouraged in indicated neurological cases. Scientific sessions targeting neurologists and public awareness about the benefits of PEG and its relatively infrequent complications are highly demanded.