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Impact of ventricular tachycardia ablation on health care utilization.
- Source :
-
Heart rhythm [Heart Rhythm] 2018 Mar; Vol. 15 (3), pp. 355-362. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Oct 10. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Background: Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) has been shown to reduce the number of recurrent shocks in patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). However, how VT ablation affects postprocedural medical and pharmaceutical usage remains unclear.<br />Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in health care resource utilization (HCRU) after VT ablation.<br />Methods: This large-scale, real-world, retrospective study used the MarketScan databases to identify patients in the United States with an ICD or cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) undergoing VT ablation. We calculated cumulative medical and pharmaceutical expenditures, office visits, hospitalizations, and emergency room (ER) visits in the 1-year periods before and after ablation.<br />Results: A total of 523 patients met the study inclusion criteria. After VT ablation, median annual cardiac rhythm-related medical expenditures decreased by $5,408. Moreover, the percentage of patients with at least 1 cardiac rhythm-related hospitalization and ER visit decreased from 53% and 41% before ablation to 28% and 26% after ablation, respectively. Similar changes were observed in the number of all-cause hospitalizations and ER visits, but there were no significant changes in all-cause medical expenditures. During the year before VT ablation, there was an increasing rate of health care resource utilization, followed by drastic slowing after ablation.<br />Conclusion: This retrospective study demonstrated that catheter ablation seems to reduce hospitalization and overall health care utilization in VT patients with an ICD or CRT-D in place.<br /> (Copyright © 2017 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1556-3871
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Heart rhythm
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 29030235
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2017.10.009