Comparative costs between myocardial revascularization with or without extracorporeal circulation

Surgical techniques of myocardial revascularization without the use of extracorporeal circulation (ECC) have raised hopes of attaining operative results with less systemic damage, lower occurrence of clinical complications and shorter hospital stay duration, generating expectations of lower hospital costs.

To evaluate the hospital costs in patients submitted to myocardial revascularization with and without ECC and in those with stable multiarterial coronary disease with preserved ventricular function.

The hospital costs were based on the existing governmental reimbursement. The costs included that of ortheses and prostheses and clinical complications. The time and costs of ICU stay and hospital stay duration were considered.

Between January 2002 and August 2006, 131 patients were randomized to surgery with ECC (SECC), whereas 128 were randomized to surgery without ECC (WECC). The basal characteristics were similar for both groups. The costs of surgical complications were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in patients from the WECC when compared to the SECC group (606.00 +/- 525.00 vs. 945.90 +/- 440.00), as well as ICU costs: 432.20 +/- 391.70 vs. 717.70 +/- 257.70, respectively. The duration of the operating room stay were 4.9 +/- 1.1 h vs. 3.9 +/- 1.0 h, p < 0.001; at the ICU it was 48.2 +/- 17.2 h vs. 29.2 +/- 26.1h) (p < 0.001), with intubation time of 9.2 +/- 4.5 h vs. 6.4 +/- 5.1h, p < 0.001 for patients from the group with and without ECC, respectively.

The present study allowed us to conclude that the myocardial revascularization surgery without extracorporeal circulation results in the decrease of operational costs and duration of the stay in each section related to the surgical treatment.