Abstract
Background: Increasing evidence supports minimally invasive sacroiliac joint (SIJ) fusion as a safe and effective treatment for SIJ dysfunction. Failure to include the SIJ in the diagnostic evaluation of low back pain could result in unnecessary health care expenses. Design: Decision analytic cost model. Methods: A decision analytic model calculating 2-year direct health care costs in patients with chronic low back pain considering lumbar fusion surgery was used. Results: The strategy of including the SIJ in the preoperative diagnostic workup of chronic low back pain saves an expected US$3,100 per patient over 2 years. Cost savings were robust to reasonable ranges for costs and probabilities, such as the probability of diagnosis and the probability of successful surgical treatment. Conclusion: Including the SIJ as part of the diagnostic strategy in preoperative patients with chronic low back pain is likely to be cost saving in the short term.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 23-31 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research |
Volume | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 21 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 Polly and Cher.
Keywords
- Chronic low back pain
- Decision modelling
- Healthcare costs
- Lumbar fusion
- Sacroiliac joint fusion
- Sacroiliac joint pain