Purpose: To compare the cost of standard intravenous conscious sedation with that of sedation with adjunct self-hypnotic relaxation during outpatient interventional radiologic procedures.
Materials and methods: Data were reviewed from a prospective randomized study in which patients undergoing vascular and renal interventional procedures underwent either standard sedation (n = 79) or sedation with adjunct hypnosis (n = 82). These data were used to construct a decision analysis model to compare the cost of standard sedation with the cost of sedation with adjunct hypnosis. Multiple sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the applicability of these results to other institutions with different cost structures with respect to the following variables: cost of the hypnosis provider, cost of room time for interventional radiologic procedure, hours of observation after the procedure, and frequency and cost of complications associated with over- or undersedation.
Results: According to data from this experience, the cost associated with standard sedation during a procedure was $638, compared with $300 for sedation with adjunct hypnosis, which resulted in a savings of $338 per case with hypnosis. Although hypnosis was known to reduce room time, hypnosis remained more cost-effective even if it added an additional 58.2 minutes to the room time.
Conclusion: Use of adjunct hypnosis with sedation reduces cost during interventional radiologic procedures.