Percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy: long-term follow-up of 23 patients.

This study reports our experience with the placement and long-term follow-up of 26 percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy (PEJ) tubes in 23 patients over a 2-year period. Eighty-four percent of the PEJ tubes failed and were functional for an average of only 39.5 days. The reasons for failure were: (1) separation of the inner PEJ tube from the outer gastrostomy tube (59%); (2) clogging (32%) due to small PEJ tube diameter; and (3) kinking and knotting (9%). Upper gastrointestinal bleeding occurred in 30% of the patients (7 of 23). Only one patient required blood transfusions (2 units). The etiology of the bleeding was not determined. These patients had a previous history of acid-peptic disease and bleeding occurred despite cimetidine treatment. In contrast, only 1 of the 16 nonbleeding patients had acid-peptic disease (p less than 0.0001) and none were on cimetidine. The frequency of aspiration pneumonia decreased from 13 episodes during nasogastric tube feedings to 5 episodes during PEJ tube feedings. Improvement in the design of the PEJ tubes may increase the longevity and effectiveness of the tubes.