Economic Aspects of the Treatment of Leg Ulcers

Overview

Costs of conventional and advanced treatments of leg ulcers are compared. Conventional treatment consisted in the application of calcaria solution and camphor ointment onto the wound and an indifferent pasta onto the surrounding skin. The advanced treatments included the use of the novel dressings Granuflex, Actisorb and Inadine. The latter treatments consider the sequence of healing phases and at the same time shorten the healing period by up one half. Comparisons of treatment costs have shown marked benefits of the novel dressings. The costs of complete healing of an ulcer with an area of 8 x 8 cm at the healing duration of 4 weeks were 503.48 CZK, 432.38 CZK and 329.62 CZK for Granuflex, Actisorb and Inadine, respectively. Direct costs of the conventional treatment of an ulcer with the same size were 863.28 CZK and the healing period extended to 6 weeks. The use of the novel dressing is apparently less expensive and affords more comfort to the patient.

Key words:
leg ulcer, economic aspects.