Letter

Feeding tubes in dementia: is there an effective UK strategy?

BMJ 2004; 329 doi: 10.1136/bmj.329.7471.917-b (Published 14 October 2004)
Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:917.3

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  1. D S Sanders (d.s.sanders28@btopenworld.com), consultant gastroenterologist,
  2. Karna D Bardhan, consultant physician
  1. Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield S10 2JF
  2. Rotherham District General Hospital, Rotherham S60 2UD

    EDITOR—In their quality improvement report Monteleoni and Clark showed a reduction in the number of gastrostomy tubes inserted (in patients with dementia) after specific quality interventions had been implemented.1 We would like to add two points to the debate.

    Firstly, how applicable is this observation to the United Kingdom? We have previously reported a high mortality in patients with dementia who have a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube inserted.2 As a result …

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