The cost of microwave endometrial ablation under different anaesthetic and clinical settings.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the costs of microwave endometrial ablation under local anaesthetic and general anaesthetic in an operating theatre and to estimate the cost of performing treatment under local anaesthetic in a dedicated clinic setting.

DESIGN

The costing study was undertaken alongside a randomised controlled trial comparing the acceptability of microwave endometrial ablation using local versus general anaesthetic in a theatre setting.

SETTING

Department of Gynaecology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Scotland.

SAMPLES

One hundred and twenty-seven women undergoing microwave endometrial ablation who had been randomly allocated to general or local anaesthetic.

METHODS

Health and non-health service resource use was recorded prospectively. Data on resource use were combined with unit costs estimated using standardised methods to determine the cost per patient for microwave endometrial ablation under local or general anaesthetic in theatre. A model was developed to estimate the health service cost of microwave endometrial ablation under local anaesthetic in a clinic setting.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Health and non-health service costs.

RESULTS

There was little difference in cost when treatments were performed under local or general anaesthetic in theatre. The median health and non-health cost of microwave endometrial ablation was 440 pounds and 120 pounds, respectively, under general anaesthetic and 428 pounds and 125 pounds per women under local anaesthetic. The health service cost of microwave endometrial ablation using local anaesthetic in a clinic setting was estimated to be 432 pounds per treatment; however, this varied from 389 pounds to 491 pounds in the sensitivity analysis.

CONCLUSION

There are minimal cost savings to the patient or health service from using local rather than general anaesthetic for microwave endometrial ablation in a theatre setting. Cost modelling suggests that in a clinic setting microwave endometrial ablation has a similar cost to theatre based treatment once re-admissions for treatment under general anaesthetic are considered. Sensitivity analysis indicated that these findings were sensitive to assumptions in the model.