Background: There are conflicting recommendations regarding the prophylactic use of antibiotics in patients undergoing placement of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes. The purpose of this decision analysis was to assess the cost-effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis in percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.
Methods: A decision tree was modeled using the data of 7 published prospective placebo-controlled trials. Infectious complications were classified as grade I (requiring local care), grade II (requiring intravenous antibiotics), or grade III (requiring surgery). Medication costs were estimated from the United States average wholesale prices of the 1998 Red Book. Physician and facility costs were estimated based on the 1998 Medicare costs. A one-way sensitivity analysis was performed by varying the probability rates of the complications associated with percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and the costs of their treatment.
Results: The average cost of prophylactic antibiotics was $13.10. Antibiotic prophylaxis led to expected cost savings of $76.72 per percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. A sensitivity analysis suggested that antibiotic prophylaxis for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was the preferred strategy unless the average probability of grade III complications dropped below an improbably low threshold value of 0.09%.
Conclusion: Antibiotic prophylaxis in percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is a cost-effective strategy.