Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. May 27, 2023; 15(5): 940-952
Published online May 27, 2023. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v15.i5.940
How far is the endoscopist to blame for a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy complication?
George Stavrou, Persefoni Gionga, George Chatziantoniou, Georgios Tzikos, Alexandra Menni, Stavros Panidis, Anne Shrewsbury, Katerina Kotzampassi
George Stavrou, Persefoni Gionga, George Chatziantoniou, Georgios Tzikos, Alexandra Menni, Stavros Panidis, Anne Shrewsbury, Katerina Kotzampassi, Department of Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54636, Greece
George Stavrou, Department of Surgery, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB22QQ, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Gionga P, Menni A and Panidis S performed the initial literature review; Stavrou G and Tzikos G drafted the manuscript; Shrewsbury A and Kotzampassi K performed a critical revision of the manuscript; Shrewsbury A performed language editing; Kotzampassi K received the final decision for inclusion and conceived the original idea; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Katerina Kotzampassi, MD, PhD, Senior Scientist, Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, Thessaloniki 54636, Greece. kakothe@yahoo.com
Received: December 21, 2022
Peer-review started: December 21, 2022
First decision: January 17, 2023
Revised: January 28, 2023
Accepted: April 7, 2023
Article in press: April 7, 2023
Published online: May 27, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

This study was carried out by specialists who are involved on a daily basis both in the performance of gastrostomies and in the management of their complications, which often have disastrous consequences. This study aimed to identify the problems internationally and to find possible methods of preventing them.

Research motivation

Trying to figure out and analyze the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tubes' complications, and focus on those that could be predicted and furthermore avoided.

Research objectives

To investigate the international literature in order to clarify the importance and the severity of these complications, and the possible ways of avoiding them.

Research methods

A 30-year database research was carried out, investigating the literature on PubMed, using the terms “percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy” AND “complications”, and all the case reports or case series were included, with the only language restriction being Chinese.

Research results

We identified 2308 articles. Only 575 were included according to the research criteria placed. After expertise investigation, 88 articles were in the final selection.

Research conclusions

The complications that can arise from the potentially simple technique of the PEG are of great concern to the international scientific community.

Research perspectives

Complications of PEG tube placement should be avoided.