The chart on page 20 can give you an idea of how long you can expect a person with a feeding tube to live. This chart shows you how many out of 100 elderly patients with feeding tubes will still be alive 30 days, 60 days, 6 months and 1 year after putting the tube in.

Please remember that these numbers are averaged from many studies (a mixture of silver and bronze ribbons). It is difficult to know for sure how long any one patient will live. Your patient may live longer than these averages, or may not live as long. It depends on the patient.

However, on average, if you look at the graph, 80 out of every 100 people with a feeding tube will still be alive after 30 days; 74 out of 100 patients will still be alive after 60 days; 54 out of 100 people will still be alive at 6 months, and 44 out of 100 patients who get a feeding tube will still be alive after 1 year.

While you are thinking about this issue of how long your family member is likely to live, remember that survival may not be the most important issue for your family member. This will depend on his quality of life, personal values and beliefs. Some people may want to be kept alive as long as possible no matter what. Other people may only want to try medical technology if they have a reasonable chance of a meaningful recovery.