[Economic aspects of the treatment of leg ulcers]

The authors have compared the healing time and the cost of leg ulcers of venous origin according to whether they were treated on an out-patient basis or by admission to hospital. The healing times were extremely similar, but the cost of cure by hospital admission was twenty times as great. Although one cannot claim to cure all leg ulcers on an out-patient basis, it is clear that significant public economies could be achieved by avoiding or shortening some costly hospital admissions.