Prophylactic PEG placement in head and neck cancer: How many feeding tubes are unused (and unnecessary)?

Table 1 Patients with prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube; demographic, stage, type of treatment, complications and use of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube

Age (yr)	Sex	Site	Stage	Treatment	Complications	PEG use
58	M	Base of tongue	III	XRT		Never
64	M	Supraglottis	IV	CTX/XRT--Surg		Never
48	M	HNC, NOS	N/A	XRT/CTX--Surg		Never
66	M	Hypopharynx	III	XRT/CTX	Leaking	Never
31	F	Glottis	III	CTX/XRT	Perforation	Never
40	M	Tonsil	IVa	XRT	Leaking	Never
76	M	Supraglottis	II	XRT--Surg		Never
51	M	Larynx, NOS	III	CTX/XRT	Leaking	Never
41	M	Larynx, NOS	IVa	CTX/XRT	Pain and leaking	1 wk
47	M	Tonsil	III	CTX/XRT	Pain	2 wk
79	F	Tonsil	N/A	CTX/XRT	Pain	2 wk
54	M	Base of tongue	III	XRT/CTX--Surg		Months
65	M	Supraglottis	IVa	CTX XRT--Surg		Months
24	F	NPC	IIb	CTX XRT--Surg		Months
66	M	Larynx, NOS	N/A	XRT		Months
70	M	Base of tongue	II	XRT		Continuous
57	F	Supraglottis	III	CTX/XRT	Pain	Continuous
71	M	Base of tongue	IVa	CTX/XRT--Surg		Continuous
78	M	Base of tongue	IVa	Surg-CTX/XRT		Continuous
54	M	Supraglottis	III	XRT/CTX	Pain	Continuous
56	M	Tonsil	IVa	CTX/XRT--Surg		Continuous
71	M	Base of tongue	III	CTX/XRT		Continuous
58	M	Base of tongue	III	XRT--Surg		Continuous

PEG: Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; XRT: Radiation therapy; CTX: Chemotherapy; N/A: Not available; NOS: No origin specified; HNC: Head and neck cancer. Staging is reported according to American Joint Committee on Cancer stage grouping for HNC.