XXXX dialysis in cirrhosis with superimposed acute liver injury: possible impact of @entity2313 dialysis on hospitalization costs.

@entity1 @entity2313 @entity409 @entity5881
@entity2313 dialysis using the Molecular Adsorbents Recirculating System (MARS) has been found to be beneficial in the treatment of cirrhotic @entity1 with acute decompensation to improve survival as well as reduce associated complications. The present study attempts to analyze the costs involved, and compare it to the benefit as a result of the MARS therapy, thus evaluating its cost-effectiveness. Using the results of a study by Kim et al. describing the effects of complications on the cost of hospitalization in @entity5881 @entity1 , the expenditure incurred in a group of 11 @entity1 treated with standard medical therapy (five survivors) and a group of 12 @entity1 treated with MARS in addition (11 survivors) (Heemann et al., Hepatology 2002) were analyzed. MARS resulted in a reduction of in-hospital deaths, as well as @entity409 . Both these factors led to a substantial reduction of costs in the MARS group, which was enough to counterbalance the extra costs associated with extra-corporeal therapy. In the control group, the total hospitalization cost per survivor were calculated to be at  35,904. In the MARS group, the overall expenditure per survivor including standard medical therapy plus additional MARS liver support therapy were  32,036--a saving of nearly  4000 compared to the control group. Therefore, it appears that the benefits of MARS therapy are enough to justify the cost of treatment and safe hospital costs, at least in the described population. However, further studies are needed to confirm these results.
