Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) said a study of endoscopic duodenal stenting showed that the procedure reduced the cost and duration of hospital stays by about half when compared to surgical gastrojejunostomy for the treatment of malignant gastric outlet obstruction.
The research used a Medicare database to compare hospitalizations for endoscopic stenting with those for surgical GJ for the disease between 2006 and 2008.
The data included 423 endoscopic stenting procedures and 352 surgical GJ hospitalizations that met the study’s inclusion criteria. The median cost per hospitalization was $15,279 for stenting, versus $27,790 for surgery. The average length of hospital stay was eight days for the stented patients compared with 16 days for the patients undergoing GJ.
The study found no difference in rates of delayed complications. Boston Scientific’s WallFlex was used in a portion of the stenting treatments examined in the study.
