Economic Impact of Reducing Reexcision Rates after Breast-Conserving Surgery in a Large, Integrated Health System.

BACKGROUND: Reexcision after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is costly for patients, but few studies have captured the economic burden to a healthcare system. We quantified operating room (OR) charges as well as OR time and then modeled expected savings of a reexcision reduction initiative. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort review of all breast cancer patients with BCS between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2020. Operating room charges of disposable supplies and implants as well as operative time were calculated. RESULTS: During the 5-year period, the 8804 patients who underwent BCS, 1628 (18.5%) required reexcision. The reexcision cohort was younger (61 vs. 64 years, p < 0.001), more likely to have ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (23.7% vs. 15.2%, p < 0.001), and had larger tumors (T1+T2 73.2% vs. 83.1%, p < 0.001). Reexcision costs represented 39% of total costs, the cost per patient for surgery was fourfold higher for reexcision patients. Reexcision operations comprised 14% of total operating room (OR) time (1848 of 13,030 hours). The reexcision rate for 54 surgeons varied from 7.2-39.0% with 46% (n = 25) having a reexcision rate >20%. A model simulating reducing reexcision rates to 20% or below for all surgeons reduced the reexcision rate to 16.2% overall. Using per procedure data, the model predicted a decrease in reexcision operations by 18% (327 operations), OR costs by 14% ($287,534), and OR time by 11% (204 hours). CONCLUSIONS: Reexcision after BCS represents 39% of direct OR costs and 14% of OR time in our healthcare system. Modest improvements in surgeon reexcision rates may lead to significant economic and OR time savings.

Radiofrequency ablation of hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer: are newer generation probes better?

Second-generation radiofrequency ablation (RFA) probes and their successors have more power, shorter ablation times, and an increased area of ablation compared with the first-generation probes used before 2000. We examined whether the use of the newer probes has improved the clinical outcome of RFA for hepatic metastases of colorectal cancer at our tertiary cancer center. Of 160 patients who underwent RFA between 1997 and 2003, 52 had metastases confined to the liver: 21 patients underwent 46 ablations with the first-generation probes and 31 patients underwent 58 ablations with the newer probes. The two groups had similar demographic characteristics. At a median follow-up of 26.2 months, patients treated with the newer probes had a longer median disease-free survival (16 months vs 8 months, P < 0.01) and a lower rate of margin recurrence (5.2% vs 17.4%); eight patients had no evidence of disease and one patient was alive with disease. By contrast, of the 46 patients treated with the first-generation probes, 2 patients had no evidence of disease and 1 patient was alive with disease. Newer-generation probes are associated with lower rates of margin recurrence and higher rates of disease-free survival after RFA of hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer.