OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and economic consequences for Moscow hospitals of the “ready-to-use” collagen patch coated with thrombin and fibrinogen – trade name TachoComb - compared with current haemostatic practice in urgent abdominal surgery. METHODS: Seventy abdominal surgeons from 20 Moscow hospitals were randomly selected for a structured interview. The interviewing was carried out from May to July 2007. Forty-four of them had previous experience with use of the thrombin and fibrinogen coated collagen patch, 26 of them were without such experience. Using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), the experts first evaluated their satisfaction with different haemostatic practices. Then they assessed the relative hospital resource use and outcome consequences of the collagen patch compared with alternative haemostasis management techniques. These assessments were subsequently valued in a budget impact model using Moscow hospital cost estimates and a univariate sensitivity analysis was applied. RESULTS: As to the surgeons’ satisfaction, the patch application got the highest score of the different haemostatic techniques in all types of surgeries. As to resource use, the patch resulted in a incremental reduction in the following resource components: mean operating time in all surgery types: 24 min per patient (liver - 36 min, herniotomy – 25 min, intestine – 24 min, stomach – 23 min, pancreas – 21 min, gall-bladder – 18 min), post-operative total hospital stay: 3 days, including 1.3 ICU days, and use of transfused blood 200 ml (min – 98 ml, max – 287 ml). Also, complication rates were reduced incrementally: internal hemorrhages by 12.45%; suture failure by 6.63%; infectious complications by 4.9%. The mean cost savings following the use of the patch compared to alternative haemostatic agents in all types of surgeries were RUR3637 (€103.6 for July 2007). CONCLUSIONS: According to assessment by surgical experts, the application of a thrombin and fibrinogen coated collaged patch in abdominal surgery potentially leads to reduction of post-operative complications, reduction of surgery time, ICU and hospital stay in the Moscow hospital setting. Finally it is likely to save net costs in all types of abdominal surgeries.