(Press-News.org) CLEVELAND - Adding to the clinical benefits and improved patient outcomes associated with minimally invasive surgery, Medtronic highlighted a study published in the March 25 online edition of JAMA Surgery. The new study demonstrated that patients who underwent laparoscopic colectomy procedures required fewer days of health care utilization and the health care system spent less on their acute and follow-up care than those who underwent traditional open surgery.
"We found that the use of minimally invasive laparoscopic approaches in a select group of patients undergoing colectomy procedures resulted in significantly lower health care costs and resource utilization compared with open surgical approaches. This may expand access and lower the cost of patient care in the long term," said lead author Conor P. Delaney, MD PhD, of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. "These results reflect the well-documented benefits of laparoscopic surgery, which include faster recovery, less pain and fewer complications."
A colectomy is the surgical removal of part or all of the colon and the rectum and is usually performed to treat several digestive health conditions, including diverticulitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and cancer of the colon and rectum.
The study found that laparoscopic colectomy procedures - which utilize three or four small incisions instead of one large one - resulted in $6,689 lower costs to payers, with open surgery totaling $29,753 compared to $23,064 for the laparoscopic approach. Overall health care expenditures in the three months after open colectomy were $8,272 and rose to $21,598 after a year, compared to $4,176 and $11,719, respectively for patients who underwent laparoscopic procedures. That equates to a difference of $4,096 after three months and $9,879 after the first year. In the first year after their procedures, the open surgery patients were hospitalized 2.12 times more and spent 1.13 times more on medicines than patients in the laparoscopy group.
"With significantly fewer days required for health care utilization in the laparoscopic group, patients are less likely to miss days of work, further strengthening the economic benefit of these procedures which have long been associated with better patient outcomes than open surgery," said Michael Tarnoff, MD, chief medical officer, Covidien Group at Medtronic. "In support of optimizing patient care costs and efficiencies, we continue to offer innovative and less invasive, more successful procedures for earlier diagnosis, better treatment and faster, complication-free recovery."
Researchers conducted a retrospective multivariate regression analysis of national health insurance claims utilizing data obtained from the Truven Health Analytics MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database. The study measured three main outcomes: health care utilization, including office, hospital outpatient, and emergency department visits and inpatient services 90 days and one year after the procedure; health care expenditures; and estimated patient days off from work. The study population was comprised of 4,160 patients aged 18 to 64 years old who underwent elective laparoscopic (45.6%) or open colectomy (54.4%) from January through December 2010.
Clinical benefits of laparoscopic colectomy, including but not limited to decreased complications, mortality and rates of readmission have been demonstrated in multiple studies.
INFORMATION:
About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio with 25,000 employees, serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 15 hospitals, 29 outpatient health centers and primary care physician offices in 15 counties. At the core of our $3.5 billion health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center, ranked among America's 50 best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in all 12 methodology-ranked specialties. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopaedics, radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, transplantation and genetics. Its main campus includes UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. For more information, go to http://www.uhhospitals.org
About Medtronic
Medtronic plc , headquartered in Dublin, is the global leader in medical technology - alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic's periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.
(Boston, MA) March 30, 2015 - A new study presented today at Experimental Biology 2015 confirms that vegetable consumption is very low among women of childbearing age (WCBA), and that the nutrient-rich white potato is an important vegetable to this population's diet, particularly among subgroups with the lowest intake.
The results are consistent with the Institute of Medicine findings that mean total vegetable consumption of women ages 19 to 50 years is extremely low--with intakes at just 50% of the 2.5 cup equivalents per day recommended for most WCBA by the 2010 Dietary ...
WASHINGTON D.C., March 30, 2015 - Plants living in arid, mountainous and humid regions of the planet often rely on their leaves to obtain the moisture they need for survival by pulling mist out of the air. But how exactly they manage this feat has been a bit of a mystery--until now.
By studying the morphology and physiology of plants with tiny conical "hairs" or microfibers on the surface of their leaves, such as tomatoes, balsam pears and the flowers Berkheya purpea and Lychnis sieboldii, a team of researchers in Japan uncovered water collection-and-release secrets that ...
Cholesterol-lowering statins have transformed the treatment of heart disease. But while the decision to use the drugs in patients with a history of heart attacks and strokes is mostly clear-cut, that choice can be a far trickier proposition for the tens of millions of Americans with high cholesterol but no overt disease.
Now a report from preventive cardiologists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere offers a set of useful tips for physicians to help their patients make the right call.
The report, published March 30 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, combines ...
TORONTO, March 30, 2015 - In their latest brain imaging study on women at risk for Alzheimer's disease, York University researchers have found deterioration in the pathways that serve to communicate signals between different brain regions needed for performing everyday activities such as driving a car or using a computer.
"We observed a relationship between the levels of deterioration in the brain wiring and their performance on our task that required simultaneous thinking and moving; what we see here is a result of communication failure," explains Professor Lauren Sergio ...
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. (March 30, 2015) -- Patients with chronic kidney disease may be treated with a class of medications called Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System inhibitors (RAASI's). Although these drugs protect the heart and kidney, a significant percentage of patients develop a dangerous side effect -- high potassium levels in the blood (hyperkalemia).
Elevated potassium puts patients at risk of death from cardiac arrhythmias. Lacking a drug to treat the problem, doctors either stop these beneficial drugs or may use kidney dialysis to quickly lower the potassium.
At ...
If a lump is found in the breast of an adolescent girl, she often will undergo an excisional biopsy. However, breast cancer is rare in adolescents, and the vast majority of teenage breast lumps turn out to be benign masses that are related to hormones and often go away over time.
A recent Loyola University Health System study published in the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine suggests that a breast ultrasound examination might eliminate the need for biopsy in many cases.
Loyola radiologists studied 37 teen girls with a total of 45 breast lumps to determine whether ...
The DNA molecule is chemically unstable giving rise to DNA lesions of different nature. That is why DNA damage detection, signaling and repair, collectively known as the DNA damage response, are needed. The DNA damage response is immensely important, for example, for ensuring the highest possible quality of the DNA before replication - duplication of the DNA prior to cell division. If the damaged DNA is replicated, the risk of cancer and other diseases increases significantly due to mutations. All in all this may lead to the death of a cell itself.
DNA repair consists ...
Fasting in combination with chemotherapy has already been shown to kill cancer cells, but a pair of new studies in mice suggests that a less-toxic class of drugs combined with fasting may kill breast, colorectal and lung cancer cells equally well.
If shown to work in humans, this combination could replace chemotherapy and make fasting a potent component of a long-term strategy to treat cancer, according to senior author Valter Longo of USC.
Human clinical trials in the United States and Europe are already studying the effectiveness and safety of Longo's strategy of ...
TORONTO, March 30, 2015 - In their latest brain imaging study on women at risk for Alzheimer's disease, York University researchers have found deterioration in the pathways that serve to communicate signals between different brain regions needed for performing everyday activities such as driving a car or using a computer.
"We observed a relationship between the levels of deterioration in the brain wiring and their performance on our task that required simultaneous thinking and moving; what we see here is a result of communication failure," explains Professor Lauren Sergio ...
March 30, 2015 - New estimates suggest that 20 to 30 percent of opioid analgesic drugs prescribed for chronic pain are misused, while the rate of opioid addiction is approximately 10 percent, reports a study in the April issue of END ...
