Gastrostomy dependency trends over 15 years of patients at a large tertiary referral center following the insertion of a prophylactic gastrostomy for chemoradiation for mucosal head and neck cancer.

The routine use of prophylactic PEGs has not resulted in significant rates of PEG dependency at the CMN. Seeing a speech pathologist during treatment and IMRT may decrease time NBM, which was identified as a potentially modifiable risk factor for PEG dependency.