[Costs of cholecystectomy after the arrival of video-laparoscopic surgery]

The authors proceeded to point out the hospital stay costs and the operating-room costs of the cholecystectomy after the introduction of the laparoscopic technique, underlining the higher economic advantages. The total unit cost for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, even if there are higher costs due to the surgical equipment, thanks to the mini-invasive approach and to the reduced hospital stay, results lower (17%) then the total unit cost for laparotomic cholecystectomy (L. 3.982.489 vs. L. 4.825.300). Let us suppose that in the Emilia Romagna Region an 80% of patients underwent to laparoscopic cholecystectomy and only a 20% underwent to laparotomic cholecystectomy: in this case there could be the economic savings of L. 3.777.478.902 and concerning the hospital stay there could be the savings of 17.928 days too. This cost estimation is important if we consider that the rate of cholecystectomy procedures, in our local area, per 1000 inhabitants, increased from 2.29 in 1990 to 3.99 in 1992 (rate of increase: 74%).