title: Cost effectiveness of cataract surgery. A comparison of conventional extracapsular surgery and phacoemulsification at Flinders Medical Centre.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the cost of conventional extracapsular cataract surgery and phacoemulsification at Flinders Medical Centre.
  
  
  METHODS
  The costs of the two forms of cataract surgery were assessed over a 12-month period. During this period 410 cataract operations were performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cataract surgery was carried out in a dedicated day surgery unit in a teaching hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  The direct, indirect and tangible costs were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Conventional extracapsular cataract surgery with posterior chamber lens implant costs $1000.85 and phacoemulsification with lens implantation costs $1231.00.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although conventional extracapsular surgery generates slightly lower costs than phacoemulsification, the cost difference is small. In generating these figures, some assumptions must be made and the real difference may prove to be less than this.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Asimakis
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Coster
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000191:economics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000191:economics*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007910:Lenses, Intraocular / Q000191:economics; D018918:Phacoemulsification / Q000191:economics