While we found relatively good st and ards of reporting the study ’s question , population , interventions , comparators and conclusions , the overall reporting was poor , and evidence of unfamiliarity with international guidelines was evident ( i.e. absence of incremental analysis , of discounting long-term costs and effects ) .
Analysis or description of place-to-place variability was infrequent .
Use and acceptance of health economic evaluations ( HEEs ) has been much greater in developed than in developing nations .
Nevertheless , while developing countries lag behind in the development of HEE methods , they could benefit from the progress made in other countries and concentrate on ways in which existing methods can be used or would need to be modified to fulfill their specific needs .
HEEs , as context -specific tools , are not easily generalizable from setting to setting .
Existing studies regarding generalizability and transferability of HEEs have primarily been conducted in developed countries .
Therefore , a legitimate question for policy makers in Latin America and the Caribbean region ( LAC ) is to what extent HEEs conducted in industrialized economies and in LAC are generalizable to LAC ( trans-regional ) and to other LAC countries ( intra-regional ) , respectively .
Routine ureteral stenting after ureteroscopy for ureteral lithiasis: is it really necessary?
PURPOSE We assessed the cost-effectiveness of routine ureteral stenting after ureteroscopic stone removal . MATERIAL S AND METHODS Of 295 consecutive patients who underwent rigid ureteroscopic stone removal 133 in group 1 and 162 in group 2 were r and omized to receive and not receive a stent , respectively , after the procedure . Operative time , stone size , stone location , success rate , postoperative pain and complications were analyzed in each group . RESULTS There were no statistically significant differences in the 2 groups regarding stone size , stone location , success rate , postoperative pain or complications . However , in group 1 operative time was significantly longer than in group 2 ( chi-square test p = 0.019 ) . The hospital charge per patient when placing and not placing a stent after ureteroscopy for stone removal was $ 9,900.95 and $ 3,661.78 , respectively . The female patients with a stent without a suture required an extra charge for stent removal in the operating room , while no men had a stent with a suture . CONCLUSIONS Routine catheter placement after ureteroscopic stone removal increased operative time and did not seem to improve patient outcome . The cost was 30 % that without a stent
While we found relatively good st and ards of reporting the study ’s question , population , interventions , comparators and conclusions , the overall reporting was poor , and evidence of unfamiliarity with international guidelines was evident ( i.e. absence of incremental analysis , of discounting long-term costs and effects ) .
Analysis or description of place-to-place variability was infrequent .
Use and acceptance of health economic evaluations ( HEEs ) has been much greater in developed than in developing nations .
Nevertheless , while developing countries lag behind in the development of HEE methods , they could benefit from the progress made in other countries and concentrate on ways in which existing methods can be used or would need to be modified to fulfill their specific needs .
HEEs , as context -specific tools , are not easily generalizable from setting to setting .
Existing studies regarding generalizability and transferability of HEEs have primarily been conducted in developed countries .
Therefore , a legitimate question for policy makers in Latin America and the Caribbean region ( LAC ) is to what extent HEEs conducted in industrialized economies and in LAC are generalizable to LAC ( trans-regional ) and to other LAC countries ( intra-regional ) , respectively .