Background: Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) has become a common technique for children who require long term enteral feeding.The use of PEG can improve nutritional status of patients and widely accepted by caregivers. The present study revealed outcome of PEG in 201 children age < 19 years performed by pediatric gastroenterologists in a tertiary-care hospital in Thailand.

Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed PEG registry of our division and medical records of pediatric patients (age <19 years) who underwent PEG at Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Ramathibodi Hospital from January 2001- December 2013.

Results: Eighty-three percent of patients were neurologically impaired. The median weight was 9 kg (IQR 5.87 to 15.3) with a minimal weight of 2.9 kg; 50% were underweight (weight for age Z-score less than -2 standard deviation) at time of PEG. Overall, rate of early post-operative complication was 20%. Most of them were minor complications and 1.5% were major complications. There was no mortality. At 1-year follow-up, nutritional status improved significantly. Mean weight for age Z-score was -2.13 ± 2.1 before PEG insertion and -1.38 ± 1.9 at 1 year later (p = 0.0001). The proportion of patients with underweight decreased from 45.3% to 39.7%. Median increased weight was 38.9% (IQR 19.5-65.9).

Conclusion: PEG is a safe procedure for children, even in small infants, requiring long term enteral feeding due to its favorable outcomes in terms of better nutritional status and low rate of major complication.