ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The aim was to calculate the costs of EVAR and FEVAR procedures in a European academic hospital by cost retrieval based on a subcohort with known detailed costs through application of the individually detailed calculated costs to the total study population and to correlate these with corresponding reimbursements. METHODS: A cost analysis was performed on 25 FEVAR and 100 EVAR cases based on the detailed cost analysis of a group of patients treated in 2012 and 2013 by applying the costs based on costs per time unit within 4 subgroups: (1) uncomplicated EVAR, (2) complicated EVAR, (3) uncomplicated FEVAR, and (4) complicated FEVAR. RESULTS: Thirty cases (19 EVAR and 11 FEVAR) treated in 2012 and 2013 were used to determine the individual detailed costs for the entire study group consisting of 100 EVAR and 25 FEVAR cases. There were 14 repeat operations within the 100 EVAR cases and 3 repeat operations within the 25 FEVAR cases. A total of 14 EVAR-treated patients were readmitted, as was one FEVAR patient. The costs of the endografts were the largest contributor to the overall costs, followed by the costs of the surgery itself and the stay in the ward. The costs of an uncomplicated EVAR procedure summed up at 12,090; a complicated EVAR procedure costs 13,956. An uncomplicated FEVAR procedure costs 34,807, and a complicated FEVAR procedure costs 36,695. The difference between median reimbursements received for the uncomplicated EVAR and FEVAR procedures was significant with 13,374 for uncomplicated FEVAR and 11,486 for complicated FEVAR in favor of the FEVAR group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: No financial loss was calculated in any of the subgroups. The costs of the endografts were the largest contributor to the overall costs, followed by the costs of the surgery itself and the stay in the ward.
