Word balloon catheter for Bartholin's cyst and abscess as an office procedure: clinical time gained

Around 2% of women develop a Bartholin's cyst or abscess at least once in their life time. The use of Word balloon catheter as an office procedure for the management of Bartholin's cyst and abscess has been well described and indicates high patient acceptance, low short-term recurrence rates and reduced cost. In most of the reported studies, the reduced costs are attributed to savings from equipment cost, operating theatre costs and health personnel costs. An evaluation of the actual clinical time gained with this office procedure has not been reported and hence the rationale for this study. This study was conducted from December 2011 to January 2014 on 35 patients. An initial retrospective clinical audit of 14 cases of marsupialization under general anesthetic between December 2011 and December 2012 was performed. The findings were compared with a subsequent prospective observational service evaluation of 21 consecutive patients between December 2012 and January 2014.

Compared to marsupialization under general anesthetic, the mean clinical time gained from admission to insertion of Word balloon catheter as an office procedure is 15 h and 40 min and the mean clinical time gained from admission to discharge is at least 24 h. There were very few minor complications and no major complications in the Word catheter group compared to the marsupialization group.

There is a clinically significant time gained with the use of Word balloon catheter as an office procedure compared to marsupialization under general anesthetic for Bartholin's cyst and abscess. The findings from our study could assist other units that want to adopt this procedure justify the efficiency savings in terms of clinical time gained when a business case is submitted. Further studies are needed to investigate and address the underlying causes for the delays encountered when marsupialization under general anesthetic is chosen by patients.