Charge and length of hospital stay analysis of radical retropubic prostatectomy and transperineal prostate brachytherapy

Purpose: For the treatment of clinically localized prostate cancer radical retropubic prostatectomy with its attendant hospital stay should be associa ted with higher charges than transperineal prostate brachytherapy, We repor t a comparative case series to determine patient charges and length of hosp italization of 2 modalities of monotherapy for localized prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 35 consecutive patients with clinically l ocalized prostate cancer underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy (16) or transperineal prostate brachytherapy (19) at the Arthur James Cancer Hospi tal and Research Institute. Complete charge and length of hospital stay dat a were collected for each patient. Total charges were calculated and the 2 modalities were compared. Results: Charge data were available in 33 cases. Average total charges in t he prostatectomy and brachytherapy groups were $15,097 and $21,025, respect ively ($5,928 difference, p < 0.0001), The difference increased further whe n outliers were excluded from study. Average length of hospital stay and av erage charge in the prostatectomy group were 3.8 days and $1,897. The highe r charges for transperineal prostatic brachytherapy were due to dosimetry c alculations, radioactive seeds and seed implantation. Conclusions: At our institution the average total charges for transperineal prostate brachytherapy are significantly higher than those for radical ret ropubic prostatectomy.