{"id":"906fd906-e46e-4ebf-a25e-3ab413478536","slug":"cost-effectiveness-of-short-term-neurosurgical-missions-relative-to-other-surgical-specialties","title":"Cost-effectiveness of short-term neurosurgical missions relative to other surgical specialties","authors":["Maria Punchak","Jorge A. Lazareff"],"abstract":"Background: Short-term surgical relief efforts have helped close some gaps in the provision of surgical care in remote settings. We reviewed the published literature on short-term surgical missions to compare their cost-effectiveness across subspecialties. Methods: PubMed was searched using the algorithm [“cost-effectiveness” AND “surgery” AND (“mission” OR “volunteer”)]. Articles detailing the cost-effectiveness of short-term surgical missions in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) were included. Only direct mission costs were considered, and all costs were converted into 2014 USD. Results: Eight articles, representing 27 missions in 9 LMIC countries during 2006–2014, met our inclusion criteria. Latin America was the most frequently visited region. Per capita costs ranged from $259 for cleft lip/cleft palate (CL/CP) missions to $2900 for a neurosurgery mission. Mission effectiveness ranged from 3 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) averted per patient for orthopedic surgery missions to 8.12 DALYs averted per patient for a neurosurgery mission. CL/CP and general surgery missions were the most cost-effective, averaging $80/DALY and $87/DALY, respectively. The neurosurgical, orthopedic, and hand surgery missions averaged the highest costs/DALY averted, with the cost-effectiveness being $357/DALY, $435/DALY, and $445/DALY, respectively. All analyzed missions were very cost effective. Conclusion: To date, this is the first study to assess the cost-effectiveness of short-term surgical missions across surgical specialties. Neurosurgical missions avert the largest number of healthy life years compared to other specialties, and thus, could yield a greater long-term benefit to resource-poor communities. We recommend that further studies be carried out to assess the impact of surgical missions in low-resource settings.","thumbnailUrl":"https://sni-digital-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/906fd906-e46e-4ebf-a25e-3ab413478536/featured/hero-1782420869196.png","publishDate":"2017-03-14T00:00:00.000Z","doi":"10.4103/sni.sni_199_16","categories":["Socio-Economics, Politics, and Medicine","Original Article"],"fullTextUrl":"http://surgicalneurologyint.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/8317/SNI-8-37.pdf"}