Aims: Carotid artery stenting (CAS) has been suggested by some clinicians as an alternative to endarterectomy (CEA), especially in some specific subgroups of the population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the costs of these two procedures.
Methods and results: A review of costs was performed on all patients who underwent elective treatment of carotid artery stenosis between January and December 2006 (184 CAS vs 97 CEA). Clinical data had been prospectively gathered from both the CAS and the CEA groups, while financial data was obtained retrospectively to match hospital admissions with the generated charge from the hospital business office. In this series there was one major event in CEA and one transient ischaemic attacks (TIA) in CAS. One death procedure-related event occurred in CEA. The mean total cost associated with a single CEA was slashed integral 3,897.86, whereas the cost associated with CAS was slashed integral 3,806.66. It was apparent that the increasing costs involved in purchasing material for CAS, were balanced by the lower spending for hospital stay.
Conclusions: Costs for CAS and CEA are comparable. In our experience, the choice between CAS and CEA is based on the comorbidity of the patient, the type of the lesion and the preferences of the patient, without economic criteria being important.