Transesophageal gastrotube may improve QOL with malignant GI obstruction

Last Updated: 2018-06-06

By Reuters Staff

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - End-stage cancer patients with a malignant gastrointestinal obstruction may require a nasogastric tube to ease symptoms, but a transesophageal tube that enters the cervical esophagus through the throat may be better tolerated, according to research presented June 4th at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual conference in Chicago.

"This analysis demonstrated the statistical superiority of the PTEG (percutaneous transesophageal gastrotube) compared to the NGT (nasogastric tube). PTEG was effective in reduction of the distressing symptoms caused by NGT," Dr. Miyuki Sone of the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, and colleagues wrote in the abstract for their presentation at ASCO 2018.

The researchers randomly assigned 40 patients with malignant gastrointestinal obstructions to receive a transesophageal tube or a nasogastric tube. Analysis examined symptomatic scores for both groups. The area under the curve was higher in the PTEG group, with a mean of 149.6 (90% CI: 125.2, 173.9), compared to 44.9 in the nasogastric group (90% CI: 21.2, 68.7) (p< 0.0001).

The study also included two quality-of-life surveys and found statistically significant differences between the two groups of patients. The mean difference in scores on the EQ-5D was 3.5 (90% CI: 1.6, 5.3; p< 0.036) and the mean difference in scores on the SF-8 was 220.7 (90% CI: 113.3, 328.1; p< 0.0020).

There were no complications related to either procedure.

The research builds on a prior phase II trial by the same team which found that PTEG was 100% successful at relieving discomfort in the nasopharynx among 33 participants.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2M3fLU5

ASCO 2018.