• J Neurosurg Spine · Feb 2012

    Cost per quality-adjusted life year gained of laminectomy and extension of instrumented fusion for adjacent-segment disease: defining the value of surgical intervention.

    • Owoicho Adogwa, Scott L Parker, David N Shau, Stephen K Mendenhall, Clinton J Devin, Joseph S Cheng, and Matthew J McGirt.
    • Department of Neurosurgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, USA.
    • J Neurosurg Spine. 2012 Feb 1;16(2):141-6.

    ObjectOver the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of spinal fusions performed in the US and a corresponding increase in the incidence of adjacent-segment disease (ASD). Surgical management of symptomatic ASD consists of decompression of neural elements and extension of fusion. It has been shown to have favorable long-term outcomes, but the cost-effectiveness remains unclear. In this study, the authors set out to assess the cost-effectiveness of revision surgery in the treatment of ASD over a 2-year period.MethodsFifty patients undergoing neural decompression and extension of fusion construct for ASD-associated back and leg pain were included in the study. Two-year total back-related medical resource utilization, missed work, and health state values (quality-adjusted life years [QALYs], calculated from the EQ-5D with US valuation) were assessed. Two-year resource use was multiplied by unit costs based on Medicare national allowable payment amounts (direct cost), and patient and caregiver workday losses were multiplied by the self-reported gross-of-tax wage rate (indirect cost). Mean total 2-year cost per QALY gained after revision surgery was assessed.ResultsThe mean (± SD) interval between prior fusion and revision surgery for ASD was 3.07 ± 2.02 years. A mean cumulative 2-year gain of 0.76 QALYs was observed after revision surgery. The mean total 2-year cost of extension of fusion constructs was $47,846 ± $32,712 (surgery cost: $24,063 ± $300; outpatient resource utilization cost: $4175 ± $3368; indirect cost: $19,607 ± $32,187). Revision decompression and extension of fusion was associated with a mean 2-year cost per QALY gained of $62,955.ConclusionsIn the authors' practice, revision decompression and extension of fusion provided a significant gain in health state utility for patients with symptomatic ASD, with a 2-year cost per QALY gained of $62,995. When indicated, revision surgery for ASD is a valuable treatment option for patients experiencing back and leg pain secondary to ASD. The findings provide a value measure of surgery that can be compared with future cost-per-QALY-gained studies of medical management or alternative surgical approaches.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…