LiDCO Group plc : Cost Effectiveness of Postoperative Goal-Directed Therapy for High-Risk Surgical Patients

12 March 2014

LiDCO Group Plc (AIM: LID), the cardiovascular monitoring company, is pleased to see the publication of "A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Postoperative Goal-Directed Therapy (GDT) for High-Risk Surgical Patients" authored by Dr Claudia Ebm et al in Critical Care Medicine (currently online). The study concludes that GDT adoption is both cost effective as well as clinically effective.

Clinicians from St George's Hospital have been delivering GDT, using the LiDCOplus monitor, for high-risk surgery patients in the postoperative period for the last 8 years (targeting oxygen delivery in order to repay intra operative oxygen debt). They have now investigated the cost effectiveness of this therapy. The data used for the cost effectiveness short-term model was taken from a previous study by these researchers using the LiDCOplus monitor to implement postoperative GDT at the Adult Intensive Care Unit at St Georges Hospital, Tooting (Critical Care, 2005, vol9: R687-R693).

The published data followed the outcomes for 60 high risk surgery patients in intensive care following GDT monitored using the LiDCOplus system, compared to a group of 62 control patients who did not have GDT. The authors modelled both short and long term clinical and financial benefits of implementing GDT and conclude that it is both clinically and financially cost-effective, providing significant benefits with respect to clinical and financial outcomes.

In the short-term model, GDT decreased costs by £2,631.77/patient and by £2,134.86/hospital survivor. In the long term, GDT was projected to prolong quality-adjusted life expectancy (by 9.8 months) and to bring incremental cost savings of £1,285.77. The cost effectiveness analysis concluded that the implementation of GDT is both clinically sound and cost-effective, commenting that additional monitoring expense can be offset after less than two months when 100 patients per year receive GDT through savings due to reduced costs accrued from a reduction in complication rates and hospital length of stay for patients on GDT.

Commenting, Terry O'Brien, Chief Executive Officer of LiDCO, said
"This is the first study to document the clinical and cost effectiveness of GDT in a post operative setting. GDT adoption was cost effective and importantly for health care providers break even in a few months. Our product - the LiDCOplus monitor provides a very accurate continuous measurement of oxygen delivery, which is essential in determining the precise amount of oxygen being delivered to the patient's tissues. The benefit of the LiDCOplus monitor is that it is minimally invasive requiring only peripheral artery and vein access. There is no need for a central venous catheter or catheter inserted into the heart or major artery which is a significant weakness of other monitoring systems. This makes the LiDCOplus the technology of choice for this application compared to other invasive technologies or technologies which require the patient to be sedated."

Paper Referenced: Ebm C, Cecconi M, Sutton L, Rhodes A (2014) A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Postoperative Goal-Directed Therapy for High-Risk Surgical Patients DOI: 10.1097/CCM0000000000000164

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About LiDCO Group Plc (www.lidco.com)

LiDCO is a supplier of non-invasive and minimally invasive hemodynamic equipment to hospitals used to monitor the amount of blood flowing around the body and ensure that vital organs are adequately oxygenated. LiDCO's products facilitate the application of hemodynamic optimisation protocols for high risk patients in both critical care units and in the operating theatre.

Increasingly clinical studies are showing that the optimisation of patients' hemodynamic status in high risk patients produces better outcomes and reduced hospital stay. LiDCO's computer-based technology, developed at St Thomas' Hospital in London, has been shown to significantly reduce morbidity and complications, length of stay and overall costs associated with major surgery.

Key Products:

LiDCOplus: a computer-based platform monitor used in the Intensive Care Unit for real-time continuous display of hemodynamic parameters including cardiac output, oxygen delivery and fluid-volume responsiveness (PPV% and SVV%).

LiDCOrapid: a cardiac output monitor designed specifically for use in the operating theatre for fluid and drug management. The monitor enables anaesthetists to receive accurate and immediate feedback on the patient's fluid and hemodynamic status - a key measure of overall well-being before, during and after surgery. The LiDCOrapid provides:

• early and rapid warning of hemodynamic change to aid choice of therapeutic route: fluid or drug
• quantification of hemodynamic response
• guidance on effective delivery of fluids to ensure the right amount at the right time

LiDCOview: an easy-to-use graphical display of historical LiDCOplus and LiDCOrapid hemodynamic data.

LiDCO Unity Software: software incorporated into LiDCOrapidv2 that allows the LiDCOrapid monitor to co-display Covidien's level of consciousness parameter ('BISTM')* and add the convenience of CNSystem's continuous non-invasive blood pressure monitoring ('CNAP')**. This will address a growing requirement for non-invasive monitoring solutions that are more comprehensive and can effectively replace multiple single parameter monitors.

*BISTM and Bispectral Index are trademarks of Covidien LP registered in the US and foreign countries.

* CNAPTM is a trademark of CNSystems Medizintechnik AG.

LiDCO monitors use single-patient disposables (sensors or smartcards) which provide an ongoing revenue stream.

LiDCO Distribution Network:

LiDCO sells directly to hospitals in the UK and USA and through a network of specialty critical care and anaesthesia distributors in the rest of the world.

LiDCO's marketing office is in Cambridge, its manufacturing facility and headquarters are in London and its shares are traded on AIM.