Importance: Patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing chemoradiotherapy may require percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement because of dehydration or significant weight loss.
Objectives: To determine the need for the reactive placement of a PEG tube during chemoradiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer and to identify patient or tumor factors associated with reactively requiring the placement of a PEG tube.
Design, setting, and participants: Single-institution retrospective review of 297 patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy and concurrent chemotherapy for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma between May 1, 2004, and June 30, 2012, with a minimum follow-up period of 3 months.
Exposure: Placement of a PEG tube.
Main outcomes and measures: Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors associated with symptomatic requirement for the reactive placement of a PEG tube.
Results: In total, 128 patients did not receive a prophylactic PEG tube within 10 days of initiation of chemoradiotherapy. Fifteen of 128 patients (11.7%) required the reactive placement of a PEG tube during or within 3 months of chemoradiotherapy. The median time to PEG tube removal was 3.3 months, and 14 of 15 patients had their PEG tube removed at the last follow-up analysis. Independent risk factors for PEG tube placement included the following: accelerated irradiation fractionation (odds ratio, 4.3; 95% CI, 1.1-16.5; P = .04), a tumor T classification of 3 or higher (odds ratio, 3.5; 95% CI, 1.0-11.9; P = .04), a cumulative cisplatin dose of 200 mg/m² or higher (odds ratio, 6.7; 95% CI, 1.2-36.7; P = .03), and a body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of less than 25 (odds ratio, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.4-23.9; P = .02).
Conclusions and relevance: Although the overall risk is low, a body mass index of less than 25, accelerated irradiation fractionation, a tumor T classification of 3 or higher, and a cumulative cisplatin dose of 200 mg/m² or higher are associated with symptomatic need for the reactive placement of a PEG tube in patients with oropharyngeal cancer.