Trends in Placement of PEG Tubes in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

When dysphagia that occurs with acute ischemic stroke doesn't improve rapidly, the provision of adequate nutrition and hydration becomes a central issue. One approach — placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube — requires careful balancing of potential benefits and harms.

In this study, researchers used a large U.S. inpatient database to examine trends in PEG placement among 8 million patients hospitalized with acute ischemic stroke between 2006 and 2022. During this interval, the proportion of such patients who received PEG fell from nearly 5% to about 3%, and the timing of PEG placement increased from an average of ≈8.5 to 11.5 days after hospital admission.