Costs of Managing Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in the Office and Operating Room.

Bradley C Gill, James C Ulchaker

Journal: Current urology reports 2018;19(9):72

PMID: 30022307

Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To review the costs associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) management. Specifically, to compare the costs of medical therapy, office-based procedures, and surgical management from a payer perspective.

RECENT FINDINGS

The American Urological Association released updated guidelines in 2018 for the surgical management of BPH. Over recent years, analyses investigating the cost-effectiveness of the modalities included in these guidelines have been completed. These show relatively newer, minimally-invasive office-based therapies can provide cost-effective alternatives to medical therapy. Likewise, surgical therapies provide a cost-effective means of BPH management, if performed well with low complication rates. However, comparisons of these studies are limited by the biases they contain. Minimally-invasive office-based therapies and well performed surgical therapies for BPH can achieve cost equivalence to combination medical therapy within a few years. Factors such as age, gland size, patient compliance, and surgeon skill should be considered when personalizing treatment recommendations for each patient.

Address: Department of Urology, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Mail Stop Q10-1 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA. [email protected].; Lerner College of Medicine, Education Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. [email protected].; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. [email protected].; Department of Urology, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Mail Stop Q10-1 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA.; Lerner College of Medicine, Education Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.

DOI: 10.1007/s11934-018-0822-z