Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Original research
Optimizing resources: financial evaluation of flow diverters versus stent assisted coiling in large and giant cerebral aneurysm management in Brazil public health system

Abstract

Background Cerebral aneurysms, especially large and giant aneurysms, pose challenges in neurointerventional surgery. Treatment choices involve clinical presentation, aneurysm details, and global resource variations. Neurointerventional methods, while innovative, may be cost restrictive in certain regions. In public healthcare, cost is crucial, notably in countries like Brazil. This study examines the device specific cost estimation of flow diverters (FD) and traditional stent assisted coiling (SAC) for large and giant cerebral aneurysms, providing insights into optimizing neurosurgical interventions within the Brazilian public health system’s unique challenges.

Methods A comprehensive retrospective analysis was conducted at our medical center of cases of large and giant aneurysms treated between 2013 and 2023. Determination of the estimated number of coils for aneurysms previously treated with FDs at our center was made, with the cost of each case, and the difference between both treatments was calculated.

Results We investigated the profiles of 77 patients: 40 had large aneurysms (51.9%) and 37 had giant aneurysms (48.1%). Large aneurysms had a mean cost difference of US$274 (standard deviation (SD) $2071), underscoring the device specific cost estimation of FDs over SAC in their treatment. For giant aneurysms, the mean cost difference increased to $6396 (SD $2694), indicating FDs as the more economically sound choice.

Conclusion Our study indicated that, for the treatment of giant aneurysms and some large aneurysms, the FD intervention was more economical than SAC.

  • Flow Diverter
  • Aneurysm
  • Coil
  • Economics

Data availability statement

Data are available in a public, open access repository.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.