Cost Analysis of Vaginal Anti-incontinence Procedures at a Tertiary Care Center.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cost of 3 vaginal procedures used in the surgical management of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) at 1 tertiary institution. METHODS: The costs of autologous fascial sling (AFS), synthetic mid-urethral sling (MUS), and anterior vaginal wall suspension (AVWS) were analyzed from a prospective long-term database, with follow-up to 5 years after these procedures. Original costing data were obtained for operating room, medical and surgical supplies, pharmacy, anesthesia supplies, and room and bed over 2 consecutive years. Included were complete cost data provided by our institution from Medicare (2012) and private payer insurance. RESULTS: For the year 2013, the AVWS, AFS, and MUS had total median costs of $4513, $5721, and $3311, respectively. Total cost and all subcosts except for pharmacy costs were significantly different for each procedure. AVWS and MUS placement differed from each other regarding the cost of anesthesia and hospital stay, which was higher for AVWS. Compared to AFS, AVWS had significantly lower total costs due to decreased costs associated with operating time, hospital stay, and surgical supplies (P <.0001). At 5 years after these procedures, synthetic slings had less frequent follow-up visits. The most common revision for SUI failure was a bulking agent injection. CONCLUSION: Initial costs of vaginal SUI procedures at our institution fared favorably compared to SUI procedures reported in the contemporary US literature. Long-term costs can vary based on physician preference in follow-up routine and etiology of SUI.

Is Burch colposuspension ever cost-effective compared with tension-free vaginal tape for stress incontinence?

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Burch colposuspension compared with tension-free vaginal tape. STUDY DESIGN: A Markov decision model was developed to compare costs (2005 US dollars) and effectiveness (quality-adjusted life years) of Burch and tension-free vaginal tape for stress urinary incontinence over 10 years from a health care system perspective. After surgery, outcomes included cure, persistent stress urinary incontinence followed by second surgery, and persistent stress urinary incontinence and mesh erosion after tension-free vaginal tape. An incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of less than $50,000 per quality-adjusted life year was considered cost-effective. RESULTS: For the base-case, the Burch strategy cost more than tension-free vaginal tape ($9320 vs $8081), but was slightly more effective (7.260 vs 7.248 quality-adjusted life years). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $98,755 per quality-adjusted life year. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was less than $50,000 per quality-adjusted life year when the relative risk of cure after Burch to tension-free vaginal tape was greater than 1.09. CONCLUSION: Burch colposuspension was not cost-effective compared with tension-free vaginal tape. However, if the tension-free vaginal tape failure rate was to increase over time, Burch may become cost-effective.

Comparison of health care costs for open Burch colposuspension, laparoscopic colposuspension and tension-free vaginal tape in the treatment of female urinary incontinence.

AIMS: To compare direct health care costs of treatment for stress urinary incontinence in Sweden with four different procedures: (i) open Burch colposuspension (OBC); (ii) laparoscopic colposuspension with sutures (LCS); (iii) laparoscopic colposuspension with mesh and staples (LCM), and (iv) Tension-free Vaginal Tape (TVT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A model was constructed representing a hospital with standardized surgical equipment, staff and average unit costs in 2003 Euros. The time used for anesthesia and surgery was calculated. Clinical data was collected from three different sources, a multicenter, randomized, prospective study comparing OBC with LCM with 1 year follow-up, a three-armed, prospective study where women were randomized to either OBC, LCM, or LCS with 1 year follow-up and a descriptive study reporting results of TVT with 5 year follow-up. Data collected from the studies and hospital cost data were put into the model to create the different cost elements. RESULTS: The total cost per individual, showed a lower cost for TVT compared to the other alternatives. The direct costs for a TVT, euro1,366 were only 56% of the costs for an OBC, euro2,431 (P < 0.001) and 59% of the costs for a LCS, euro2,310 (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: When using a model and comparing health care costs for surgical treatment of female stress urinary incontinence in Sweden, the TVT procedure generated a lower direct cost than both open and laparoscopic colposuspension.

Lessons from the past: directions for the future. Do new marketed surgical procedures and grafts produce ethical, personal liability, and legal concerns for physicians?

New procedures and materials for incontinence and prolapse are proliferating rapidly. Surgical procedures were developed by physicians and carried their names, but over the last 15 years, these procedures are developed by industry and bear the trade names of the companies selling the kits needed to perform them. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves devices, not procedures, and does not require submission of efficacy or adverse-event data to gain this approval by the 510-K process. Evidence-based medicine is lacking in the performance of these procedures that may be considered experimental by an insurance company or malpractice carrier with denial of payment or coverage. Physicians and hospitals are exposing themselves to financial, legal, and ethical risks when performing or allowing such procedures to be performed. Informed consent from the patient cannot be obtained. We must not confuse medical marketing with evidence-based medicine.

Cost and time benefits of dual implantation of inflatable penile and artificial urinary sphincter prosthetics by single incision.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness of synchronous prosthetic treatment of male urinary incontinence and impotence using a single transverse scrotal incision. METHODS: A total of 92 inflatable penile prostheses (IPPs), 21 artificial urinary sphincters (AUSs), and 15 combined IPPs/AUSs were implanted in 128 men at Brooke Army Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The operative times and outcomes were compared among three groups (group 1, IPP; group 2, AUS; and group 3, dual IPP/AUS). We performed cost estimates of synchronous versus two-stage implant procedures. RESULTS: Dual implantation in a single-stage procedure significantly reduced (24.7%) the operative time (P <0.05, mean 113 minutes) compared with the total time for the individual procedures (IPP, average of 78 minutes; AUS, average of 72 minutes; total 150 minutes). No prosthetic infections or erosions occurred in this series. Dual implantation was associated with approximately a $7000 cost savings compared with individual procedures. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study have shown that dual prosthetic implantation through a single incision is safe, efficient, and cost-effective.

Outcome of sphincteroplasty combined with surgery for urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.

PURPOSE: This is the first reported prospective study comparing outcome and cost in patients undergoing sphincteroplasty for anal incontinence vs. sphincteroplasty performed in combination with one or more procedures for urinary incontinence and/or pelvic organ prolapse. METHODS: We analyzed 44 patients with fecal incontinence who underwent anal sphincter repair alone (20 patients) or in combination with procedures for urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse (24 patients). Information regarding risk factors for fecal incontinence, the degree of incontinence, and the extent that incontinence limited social, physical, and sexual activity was prospectively obtained from questionnaires. Clinic chart reviews and follow-up telephone interviews provided additional data. A cohort of case-matched patients who underwent only urogynecologic procedures was compared retrospectively for operative time, hospital cost, length of stay, and postoperative complications. RESULTS: There were no major complications in any group. The functional outcomes, physical, social, and sexual activity were similar in all three groups. Twenty-two of 24 patients who underwent the combined procedures were glad that they had both procedures concomitantly. CONCLUSION: Combination pelvic floor surgery provides good outcomes and is cost effective. This approach should be offered to women with concurrent problems of fecal and urinary incontinence and/or pelvic organ prolapse.

Case consultation: ablatio penis.

In male infants, traumatic ablation of the penis, with or without loss of the testicles may occur as a sequel to mutilatory violence, accidental injury, or circumcision error. Post-traumatically, one program of case management is surgical sex reassignment to live as a girl, with female hormonal therapy at the age of puberty. The other program is genital reconstructive surgery to live as a boy, with male hormonal therapy at puberty if the testicles are missing. In both programs, the long term outcome is less than perfect and is contingent on intervening variables that include societal ideology; surgical technology; juvenile and adolescent timing and frequency of hospital admissions construed by the child as nosocomial abuse; development of body image; health and sex education; fertility versus sterility; coitus and orgasm; possible lesbian orientation if living as a girl; and long-term cost accounting, including the psychic cost of being a pawn in possible malpractice litigation on whose disability a very large fortune in compensation may devolve. There is, as yet, no unanimously endorsed set of guidelines for the treatment of genital trauma and mutilation in infancy, and no provision for a statistical depository for outcome data.