OBJECTIVES: Post-operative fistulas are a serious complication of gastrointestinal tract surgery that can highly increase the length of hospitalization stays. Somatostatin, such as lanreotide, are being used to reduce time elapsed for fistula closure. In France, non expensive drugs are directly financed through DRG tariff. In this context, the objective of the study was to evaluate, from a public hospital perspective, whether the additional costs associated with lanreotide treatment could be counter-balanced by its impact on health resources consumption and length of stay compared to conventional care management and natural somatostatin. METHODS: We assumed that the treatment duration corresponds to the time required for fistula closure and data used were based on published clinical trials findings. Hospital stays were identified from the French national hospital database (PMSI) and costs of stays were determined through the French national hospital costs database (ENC). Daily average cost of stay was estimated considering both, length of stay, fix and variable costs within the ENC and was weighed by the number of stays in each identified DRG. RESULTS: The analysis was based on 2193 hospitalizations representing 74% of the stays with a fistula diagnosis. The average daily cost of stay was evaluated to €170. Based on the clinical data available, the time for fistula closing was comparable for both drug treatments (12 days for lanreotide and natural somatostatine) and, 18 days for the conventional treatment. Thus, the total costs of stay including the cost of drug were of €2929 for the lanreotide, €7747 for the natural somatostatine and of €2981 for the conventional treatment. CONCLUSIONS:The decreased fistula closing time associated with lanreotide treatment can potentially lead to a reduction of the hospitalization length of stay which can compensate the overcost of the drug.