TY - JOUR
T1 - Hospitalization costs of open vs. laparoscopic appendectomy
T2 - 5 year experience
AU - Cárdenas-Salomon, Carlos Michel
AU - Cervantes-Castro, Jorge
AU - Jean-Silver, Enrique Ricardo
AU - Toledo-Valdovinos, Sergio Alejandro
AU - Murillo-Zolezzi, Adrián
AU - Posada-Torres, José Antonio
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Background: There is an ongoing debate over certain aspects of laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) over open appendectomy (OA) in regard to hospitalization costs and associated complications. Methods: A database was used to obtain the charts for either LA or OA performed during a 5-year period. Variables analyzed were age, gender, hospitalization cost, length of stay and complications. Results: Of 1792 appendectomies performed, 633 (35.3%) were OA and 1159 (64.6%) were LA. Both groups were statistically similar with regard to gender (p = 0.075) but differed with respect to age, demonstrating an older patient population in the LA group (p <0.0001). Length of stay was significantly higher in the OA group (3.33 vs. 2.52) days, p <0.0001). The overall hospitalization cost of LA was 25% higher than the OA cost (p = 0.0005). The cost of an uncomplicated LA case was 1.7 times higher than in the OA group (p ≤0.0001). We found no statistically significant differences between the hospitalization cost of an OA and LA group when both procedures were associated with a complication (p = 0.5319). A higher complication rate was observed in the OA group, 60 cases (9.47%) as compared to the LA group, 46 cases (3.96%), p <0.0001. The increased rate of complications observed was related to cardiovascular, wound and infectious problems. Conclusions: Noncomplicated LA was associated with a higher hospitalization cost. There was no difference with regard to complicated cases. The incidence of complications increased in the OA group.
AB - Background: There is an ongoing debate over certain aspects of laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) over open appendectomy (OA) in regard to hospitalization costs and associated complications. Methods: A database was used to obtain the charts for either LA or OA performed during a 5-year period. Variables analyzed were age, gender, hospitalization cost, length of stay and complications. Results: Of 1792 appendectomies performed, 633 (35.3%) were OA and 1159 (64.6%) were LA. Both groups were statistically similar with regard to gender (p = 0.075) but differed with respect to age, demonstrating an older patient population in the LA group (p <0.0001). Length of stay was significantly higher in the OA group (3.33 vs. 2.52) days, p <0.0001). The overall hospitalization cost of LA was 25% higher than the OA cost (p = 0.0005). The cost of an uncomplicated LA case was 1.7 times higher than in the OA group (p ≤0.0001). We found no statistically significant differences between the hospitalization cost of an OA and LA group when both procedures were associated with a complication (p = 0.5319). A higher complication rate was observed in the OA group, 60 cases (9.47%) as compared to the LA group, 46 cases (3.96%), p <0.0001. The increased rate of complications observed was related to cardiovascular, wound and infectious problems. Conclusions: Noncomplicated LA was associated with a higher hospitalization cost. There was no difference with regard to complicated cases. The incidence of complications increased in the OA group.
KW - Acute appendicitis
KW - Laparoscopic appendectomy
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M3 - Article
C2 - 22169371
AN - SCOPUS:83755220512
SN - 0009-7411
VL - 79
SP - 491
EP - 496
JO - Cirugia y Cirujanos
JF - Cirugia y Cirujanos
IS - 6
ER -