Abstract
BackgroundLung cancer is highly prevalent in Chinese population. The association of operative approach with economic burden in these patients remains unknown.ObjectivesThis institution-level cohort study aimed to compare the cost-related clinical outcomes and health care costs among patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and open lobectomy, and to investigate the factors associated with the costs.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study included patients who underwent VATS or open lobectomy in a provincial referral cancer center in China in 2018. Propensity score matching (PSM) method was applied to balance the baseline characteristics in VATS lobectomy and open lobectomy group. Clinical effectiveness measures included post-operative blood transfusion, lung infection, and length of stay (LOS). Hospitalization costs were extracted from hospital information system to assess economic burden. Multivariable generalized linear model (GLM) with gamma probability distribution and log-link was used to analyze the factors associated with total costs.ResultsAfter PSM, 376 patients were selected in the analytic sample. Compared to open lobectomy group, the VATS lobectomy group had a lower blood transfusion rate (2.13% vs. 3.19%, P = 0.75), lower lung infection rate (21.28% vs. 39.89%, P < 0.001) and shorter post-operative LOS (9.4 ± 3.22 days vs. 10.86 ± 4.69 days, P < 0.001). Total hospitalization costs of VATS lobectomy group and open lobectomy were similar: Renminbi (RMB) 84398.03 ± 13616.13, RMB 81,964.92 ± 16748.11, respectively (P = 0.12). Total non-surgery costs were significantly lower in the VATS lobectomy group than in the open lobectomy group: RMB 41948.40 ± 7747.54 vs. RMB 45752.36 ± 10346.42 (P < 0.001). VATS approach, lung infection, longer post-operative length of stay, health insurance coverage, and lung cancer diagnosis were associated with higher total hospitalization costs (P < 0.05).ConclusionsVATS lobectomy has a lower lung infection rate, and shorter post-operative LOS than open lobectomy. Future studies are needed to investigate other aspects of clinical effectiveness and the economic burden from a societal perspective.
Highlights
Lung cancer is highly prevalent in Chinese population
Study population A total of 2131 patients were admitted to thoracic department in 2018, and 1639 (76.91%) of them were diagnosed with lung disease
Out of 797 patients studied, 208 (26.10%) patients went through open lobectomy and 589 (73.90%) patients had Videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy (Fig. 1)
Summary
Lung cancer is highly prevalent in Chinese population. The association of operative approach with economic burden in these patients remains unknown. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and China has a relatively high mortality rate compared to most other countries. Lobectomy is a surgical procedure that removes an entire lobe of the lung. This procedure can be performed either through one or few small incisions (minimally invasive) or one long incision (thoracotomy/open lobectomy) [2]. Videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is a type of the minimally invasive thoracic surgery (MITS). It can complete the same task as the traditional thoracotomy and does not require spreading apart the ribs. Compared with traditional open lobectomy, VATS has smaller scars, fewer complications, shorter hospital stay, and less blood loss [3]
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