New Device for Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) Feeding Using Semi-Solid Food

Liquid nutritional supplements are commonly used for PEG feeding and requires a suitable location to administer a drip feed, and takes about 1 hr, because faster rates cause unpleasant complications such as diarrhea or nausea. Gastro-esophageal reflux and leakage of the supplement are also unpleasant complications that can adversely affect the quality of life. Increasing the viscosity of nutritional supplements using agar is effective for these problems, but there are difficulties in adjusting this factor and preserving the supplements. We produced a new device, the “CPPEG connector” to connect a pack of the semi-solid nutritional supplement “Terumeal Soft” (TMS; Terumo Corp., Japan) to a PEG tube. Herein, we showed successful discharge of TMS via connector and a feeding tube of PEG. If we could use TMS for PEG feeding with a CPPEG connector safely and effectively, this method might alleviate the problems of conventional methods. We plan to evaluate its safety and usefulness prospectively.