ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the total cost-per-wound healing response (CPR) and the per-day CPR of patients with chronic leg ulcers treated with pure hypochlorous acid (pHA) as part of their overall would healing regimen.
METHODS: The authors developed a deterministic decision-tree model to estimate the incremental CPR for pHA. The analysis was performed using clinical data from a published single-arm prospective study. The outcome of interest was re-epithelialization at 90 days. Economic data for pHA were based on public prices of pHA per dressing change from the wound care center perspective. The following time points were assessed: 90, 60, and 30 days. Dressing changes occurred every 2.5 days. Sensitivity analysis was performed to gauge the robustness of the results.
RESULTS: A total of 31 patients (68% women) with 31 lesions (average age of wound, 29 months; range, 1-240 months) were included in the clinical study. Re-epithelialization occurred in 23 lesions (74%) at 90 days, 17 (55%) at 60 days, and 3 (10%) at 30 days. The total CPRs were $75.69, $68.27, and $193.44, and the per-day CPRs were $0.84, $1.13, and $6.45 at 90, 60, and 30 days, respectively. The sensitivity analysis revealed that CPRs ranged from $0.63 to $1.12 per day at 90 days.
CONCLUSIONS: Incorporating pHA into standard wound healing protocols is a minimal added expense and may yield a substantial economic savings of $2,695 at 90 days.