Safety, effectiveness and cost efficacy of diagnostic electrophysiology and radiofrequency ablation in a district general hospital

Electrophysiological studies (EPS) are now being performed in district gene ral hospitals (DGH) in the UK, In order to audit our results, a prospective database was established for all patients undergoing EPS and radiofrequenc y (RF) ablation at Eastbourne District General Hospital, East Sussex, Betwe en 1 January 1997 and 1 July 2000, 300 EPS procedures were performed, resul ting in 155 RF ablations, The average RF ablation procedure time was 119.3 minutes with an average fluoroscopy time of 19.1 minutes. Cost per RF ablat ion procedure was pound 1166.79 excluding use of facilities, pacemaker devi ces, medical nursing and radiography staffing costs. The overall success ra te for RF ablation was 93.6% with a major complication rate of 0.6%, a tota l complication rate of 3.9% and no associated mortality. We have shown that RF ablation can be performed safely, effectively and economically in a DGH setting with a high rate of success and a low complication rate.