Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Benign prostatic obstruction (BPO) diagnoses around the world continues to rise, increasing the economic burden on public health systems. In Italy, patients in the public system face long wait times for surgical procedures, extended hospitalization periods and an increased risk of catheter-associated infections. Our research seeks to understand whether offering minimally invasive surgical treatments (MISTs) in an outpatient setting could help mitigate these challenges.
METHODS: An Excel-based budget impact model was developed to evaluate the financial and resource implications over a one-year period of adopting a MIST (the temporarily implanted nitinol device), compared to transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) within the National Healthcare Service in Italy. Of the estimated 66,400 patients undergoing TURP each year, it was assumed that 9% of these patients could instead receive the MIST in an outpatient setting. Clinical, resource utilization, and cost data were derived from published literature.
RESULTS: The estimated per-procedure costs were EUR 2,233 for the MIST and EUR 3,234 for TURP. The introduction of the MIST procedure yields a total healthcare cost reduction of EUR 5,981,419, representing a 2.8% decrease. In terms of healthcare resource consumption, the MIST was associated with a reduction of 7,047 operating room (OR) hours, 47,808 hours of healthcare professional time (including urologists, anesthesiologists, nurses, and support staff), and 23,904 post-operative hospital bed days—corresponding to savings of 6.1%, 7%, and 9%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Delivering the temporarily implanted nitinol device procedure in the outpatient setting for a subset of eligible BPO patients could help ease the economic and resource burden on the Nation Healthcare Service in Italy. The significant savings in OR time, staff resources, and bed occupancy could enable treatment of additional patients within the same system capacity, helping to reduce waiting lists for patients.