Low-Cost Innovations in Global Cardiac Surgery
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Published on: September 11, 2021
Hera Jamil1, Sruthi Ranganathan2, Aemon B Fissha3
1Life Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, ON, Canada.
Insights
Cardiovascular diseases cause millions of deaths globally, with many lacking access to essential cardiac surgery. This review explores frugal innovations to reduce costs and improve perioperative and postoperative care.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Health Economics
- Global Health
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases are the leading global cause of death, with 18 million annual fatalities.
- Cardiac surgical conditions account for up to one-third of these deaths.
- Access to safe and affordable cardiac surgery is limited for approximately 6 billion people, particularly in low-middle income countries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address the significant costs associated with cardiac surgery.
- To highlight frugal innovations in perioperative and postoperative care.
- To explore how innovations can improve cardiac surgical care delivery in resource-constrained settings.
Main Methods:
- This study is a narrative review.
- It focuses on innovations in the perioperative and postoperative care spectrum.
- The review examines strategies to bypass resource constraints in cardiac surgery.
Main Results:
- Cardiac surgery is prohibitively expensive, limiting continuous operation in many centers.
- Innovations are being developed and adopted to overcome resource limitations.
- These innovations can benefit both high-income countries facing rising costs and low- and middle-income countries with competing health priorities.
Conclusions:
- Frugal innovations are crucial for making cardiac surgery more accessible and affordable globally.
- Addressing the cost of cardiac surgery through innovation can improve patient outcomes worldwide.
- The findings have implications for healthcare policy and resource allocation in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, costing the lives of 18 million people annually, with up to one-third being attributable to cardiac surgical conditions. Approximately 6 billion people do not have access to safe, timely, and affordable cardiac surgery, predominantly affecting populations living in low-middle income countries. Cardiac surgical care is costly, resulting in few centers in variable-resource contexts operating continuously or with the resources observed in higher-resource environments. As a result, innovations may be formally developed or informally adopted to bypass resource constraints and ensure care delivery. Innovations have been observed across the cardiac surgical care continuum and across settings, potentially benefiting both high-income countries, where growing health care costs are becoming unsustainable, and low- and middle-income countries, where competing health agendas may limit investments into cardiac surgery. This narrative review attempts to address the costs associated with cardiac surgery, placing an emphasis on frugal innovations in the perioperative and postoperative care spectrum.
