Journal Article

Cost Analysis of Radiofrequency Ablation for Adrenal Adenoma in Patients with Primary Aldosteronism and Hypertension: Results from the ADERADHTA Pilot Study and Comparison with Surgical Adrenalectomy

Costa, Nadège, Papadopoulos, Panteleimon, Gosse, Philippe, Bouhanick, Béatrice, Boulestreau, Romain, Delchier, Marie C, Rousseau, Hervé, Lepage, Benoit, Molinier, Laurent, Mounie, Michael, Lagarde, Séverine, Gombault-Datzenko, Eugénie, Cremer, Antoine, Trillaud, Hervé

2023

Overview

PurposePrimary Aldosteronism (PA) is increasingly considered as a common disease affecting up to 10% of the hypertensive population. Standard of care comprises laparoscopic total adrenalectomy but innovative treatment such as RadioFrequency Ablation (RFA) constitutes an emerging promising alternative to surgery. The main aim of this study is to analyse the cost of RFA versus surgery on aldosterone-producing adenoma patient from the French National Health Insurance (FNHI) perspective.MethodsThe ADERADHTA study was a prospective pilot study aiming to evaluate both safety and efficacy of the novel use of adrenal RFA on the patients with PA. This study conducted on two French sites and enrolled adult patients, between 2016 and 2018, presenting hypertension and underwent the RFA procedure. Direct medical (inpatient and outpatient) and non-medical (transportation, daily allowance) costs were calculated over a 6-month follow-up period. Moreover, the procedure costs for the RFA were calculated from the hospital perspective. Descriptive statistics were implemented.ResultsAnalysis was done on 21 patients in RFA groups and 27 patients in the surgery group.The difference in hospital costs between the RFA and surgery groups was €3774 (RFA: €1923; Surgery: €5697 p < 0.001) in favour of RFA. Inpatient and outpatient costs over the 6-month follow-up period were estimated at €3,48 for patients who underwent RFA. The production cost of implementing the RFA procedure was estimated at €1539 from the hospital perspective.ConclusionOur study was the first to show that RFA is 2 to 3 times less costly than surgery.The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under the number NCT02756754.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Ablation / Adenoma / Adrenalectomy / Aldosterone / Endocrine disorders / Hospital costs / Hypertension / Laparoscopy / Neuroendocrine tumors / Patients / Radiofrequency ablation / Statistical analysis / Surgery / Tumors