Researchers conducted this study to determine the difference in procedure time and cost between Crawford tubes placed traditionally and those identified with endoscopic assistance in pediatric patients.
A chart review was performed for cases using CPT codes 68815 or 31231. Within this group of patients, the patients in whom nasal endoscopy was performed were placed in the “endoscopic” group, and the patients without endoscopy were placed in the “traditional” group. Procedure times were noted, and the t-test was performed to examine for any statistically significant difference in operative times. Estimates of anesthesia cost savings were made. We identified 24 patients in the traditional group and seven patients in the endoscopic group.
The traditional group’s average operative time was 27.3 minutes compared with 14.0 minutes for the endoscopic group. The cost comparison data revealed no significant difference, with the conventional group averaging $9369 per procedure and the endoscopic group averaging $8891 (p = 0.51).
The study concluded that an endoscopically assisted Crawford tube placement resulted in less time under general anesthesia than the traditional technique at no difference in cost.
Reference: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.2500/ajra.2018.32.4500
