Many plastic surgeons will have experienced a heart-sinking moment when receiving a request to give an opinion on a patient with a bedsore. The surgery is not technically demanding, but the postoperative care and rehabilitation of the patient can be problematical and the procedures costly – mainly because of the length of hospital stay and the possibility of postoperative recurrence of the sore. The authors have examined the costs of surgically treating bedsores and have divided the patients that they have treated (n=40) into three groups: single trunk sores, single extremity sores and multiple sores. The average overall cost was €21,000, varying between €2,700 and €130,000. The least expensive group being patients with single trunk sores and the most expensive group being those with multiple sores which are often associated with complications and a lengthy hospital stay. Standard precautions, such as ensuring an adequate nutritional state preoperatively were enhanced by the operators by making arrangements with a local rehabilitation centre, whose costs were half of those of the hospital, transferring patients there as soon as possible postoperatively. No comment, however, is made on the rate of recurrence of the sores, which must have a bearing on the justification of the expense.
The cost of surgery for bedsores
Reviewed by Martyn Webster
Cost analysis of surgically treated pressure sores stage lll and lV.
