Angioplasty to clear blocked arteries costs more at hospitals not equipped for emergency heart surgery, according to a study presented on Sunday at the American Heart Association scientific meeting.
Elective angioplasty is becoming increasingly common at hospitals that do not conduct more complicated heart procedures. During angioplasty, doctors insert a balloon-tipped catheter into an artery and inflate a balloon to open the narrowed blood vessel.
Researchers from Duke University Medical School in North Carolina analysed billing data from more than 18,000 patients and found that the average cumulative medical costs were $23,991 in surgery-equipped hospitals, versus $25,460 in those without surgical centres. "Surprisingly, there was no difference in procedure cost," said Dr. Eric Eisenstein, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at Duke. "We did find a difference in follow-up cost."
The difference was due mainly to the fact that non-surgery hospitals used intensive care units for post-angioplasty care, as required by the study, and patients treated at these hospitals were more likely to be readmitted nine months after treatment.
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