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Updated: May 24, 2026

Thermal Ablation for the Treatment of Abdominal Tumors
Published on: March 7, 2011
Cost-minimisation analysis of endometrial thermal ablation in a day case or outpatient setting under different
Sari Ahonkallio1, Markku Santala, Hannu Valtonen
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. sari.ahonkallio@oulu.fi
Objective:
To evaluate the cost difference between a daycase endometrial thermal ablation performed under general anaesthesia and an outpatient endometrial ablation using local anaesthetic.
Study Design:
Calculations using real reported resource use in 20 daycase procedures and 16 outpatient procedures.
Results:
The costs were 1865 euros for daycase procedure versus 1065 euros for outpatient procedure.
Conclusion:
The cost of endometrial thermal ablation can be considerably minimised by taking the procedure out of the theatre and performing it under local anaesthetic instead of general anaesthesia. This setting makes endometrial thermal ablation cost-effective.

