Tube feeding in dementia remains controversial as evidenced by recent responses to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) report on oral feeding [1]. Criticisms of non-oral feeding are based on a failure to show a favourable outcome [2] or to lengthen survival [3, 4], a worsening of prognosis [5] and a higher mortality rate in hospitalised patients [6]. When dysphagia become severe, nasogastric tubes are often the first recommendation [1], with gastrostomies inserted once the patient is well enough to tolerate the procedure.
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