Improved outcomes in pediatric liver transplants don't have to mean higher cost

Medical Express
(Medical Xpress) -- A Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study of patients who received liver transplants from living donors has found that better outcomes need not come with a heftier price tag.

The study, published online ahead of print in the journal Pediatric Transplantation, looked at 52 children paired up with 53 living donors who underwent transplantation at Hopkins between 1992 and 2010. The researchers found steady improvements in survival rates and overall outcomes without a significant increase in healthcare spending.
More than 500 U.S. children receive liver transplants each year, and living donor transplants have become a mainstay in treating end-stage liver disease and a life-saving measure that reduces wait list time, the researchers say.
Five-year survival rates increased from 82 percent for patients transplanted between 1992 and 1995 to 100 percent for those who received transplants between 2001 and 2003. There were no donor deaths, and most complications among donors were minor. At the same time, the average annual spending for transplantation remained stable during the 18-year-study period, the researchers note. Adjusting for changes in the consumer price index, the study found that charges between 1992 and 2010 grew by a mere 3 percent.
Yet, because of the small number of patients followed over a long period, the research team cautions the results don’t necessarily mean that spending can be predictably and reliably contained in the future.

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