Stent costs decrease without warfarin
November 1, 1998 less than 1 minute read
Stent costs decrease without warfarin
Investigators have found an overall decline in costs of stent cases when warfarin anticoagulation is abandoned.1 As stenting practice has evolved, concern has focused on the increasing delivery costs. To evaluate changes, researchers examined total costs; costs for catheterization, laboratory equipment, and equipment use; and nonlaboratory hospital costs for stents in two time periods, one involving routine warfarin anticoagulation and one in which warfarin was not used.- Overall costs dropped from the first period ($11,293 ± $7672) to the second ($9,819 ± $3,636).
- Cath lab equipment expenditures rose from the first period ($3,823 ± $1,394) to the second ($4,278 ± $1,533).
- Non-cath-lab hospital costs declined from the first period — $7,281 ± $7,179 — to the second — $5,560 ± $3,420.
Reference
1. Vaitkus PT, Adele C, Wells SK, et al. The evolving costs of intracoronary stents. Am Heart J 1998; 136:132-135.
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