ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Bartholin's gland abscesses cause severe pain and are a source of frequent emergency room visits. The most widespread treatment in France is incision-drainage during hospitalisation. A Word catheter, whose efficiency and safety would be identical, could be used without the need for hospitalisation, thus reducing the costs of Bartholin's gland abscess management. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: French hospital (PMSI) database 2016-2017. POPULATION: 3539 women with Bartholin's gland abscess. METHOD: From the PMSI database, we identified the population that was treated for incision-drainage of a Bartholin's gland abscess in 2016. We also looked for secondary hospitalisations occurring within 12 months of initial treatment of Bartholin's gland abscess using 2016 and 2017 PMSI database data. MAIN OUTCOME(S): The identified population was described in terms of age, hospitalisation, length of stay and readmissions within 12 months and provided a 5-year budget impact analysis of the use of the Word catheter in France from a National Health Insurance perspective. RESULTS: In 2016, 3539 women (36 +/- 11.8 years) were hospitalised for 3646 incisions of the major vestibular gland linked to a Bartholin's gland abscess. 11.38 % (403/3,539) underwent at least one new Bartholin's gland procedure during the following year. The use of the Word catheter would allow potential savings over 5 years of 7.4 million. CONCLUSION: The use of the Word catheter could be cost-saving. These results must be validated by a clinical research step evaluating efficiency in the French context, comparing the Word catheter and incision-drainage side-by-side.