Gesundheitsökonomische Bewertung einer antibiotischen Prophylaxe gegenüber postoperativen Endophthalmitiden

BACKGROUND: Two independent epidemiological studies recently suggested the prophylactic relevance of an intraocular antibiosis against endophthalmitis after cataract surgery. The resulting intervention programme, however, has not only ethical drawbacks, but also has a health economical dimension, which will be focussed in this paper. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cost analysis is performed to compare the direct costs saved by prevention of endophthalmitis cases and the costs generated by the prophylaxis itself. Furthermore, the clinics' indirect costs due to treatment of unprevented endophthalmitis cases are estimated. RESULTS: The overall gain in direct costs turns out to be about 368 000 Euro p…