{"id":220,"date":"2013-07-31T10:54:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T14:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/?p=220"},"modified":"2013-07-31T10:55:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T14:55:58","slug":"using-feeding-tubes-in-patients-with-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/using-feeding-tubes-in-patients-with-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Feeding Tubes in Patients With Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ramona<\/a>

Dr. Ramona Rhodes<\/p><\/div>\n

Healthinaging.org is pleased to feature a guest blog by Dr. Ramona Rhodes.<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Ramona Rhodes, MD, MPH, MSCS, AGSF<\/strong>
\nAssistant Professor of Internal Medicine
\n<\/strong>Geriatrics and Palliative Care Sections
\n<\/strong>University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center<\/strong><\/p>\n

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My Cousin Opal was my paternal grandmother\u2019s cousin.\u00a0 They were close in age, grew up together, and were best friends.\u00a0 Cousin Opal was college educated\u2014a great accomplishment for an African American woman born in the South in the early 1920s.\u00a0 She was a school teacher, community leader, social butterfly, and true fashionista.<\/p>\n

I met Cousin Opal when I was in high school.\u00a0 Cousin Opal was widowed and did not have children.\u00a0 She had relocated from the Northeast to our small town, and was living with my grandmother at the time.\u00a0 Cousin Opal began to exhibit problems with her memory, and though the word \u201cAlzheimer\u2019s\u201d was whispered, my grandmother would never discuss it.<\/p>\n

Over time, Cousin Opal became increasingly more forgetful, and she would only say a few words.\u00a0 Food became harder to swallow, so my grandmother would blend things up into a puree to make it easier.\u00a0 Eventually Cousin Opal stopped talking, stopped walking, and could not get out of bed.\u00a0 And then, of course, Cousin Opal stopped eating.\u00a0 My grandmother then made the decision to place a feeding tube.<\/p>\n

Dementia is a neurodegenerative disorder (disorder that affects the brain) that results in memory loss and decline in function.\u00a0 As dementias like Alzheimer\u2019s disease progress to the advanced stage, patients become weaker and more dependent.\u00a0 They lose their ability to talk, move around, and have a hard time with chewing and swallowing.\u00a0 As a result, caregivers of dementia patients are often faced with the decision to place, or not place, a feeding tube for nutritional support.<\/p>\n

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Research on the use of feeding tubes in persons with advanced dementia is emerging. This research has shown that feeding tubes do not:<\/p>\n