Permanent Pacemaker Implantation in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Versus the Operating Room: An Analysis of Hospital Charges and Complications

Permanent pacemakers may be implanted in operating rooms, special procedure laboratories, or cardiac catheterization laboratories. Previous investigators have shown no difference in efficacy or complications in the operating room versus the cardiac catheterization laboratory. We retrospectively analyzed the hospital bills of 30 patients undergoing permanent pacemaker implantation at our institution. Group I was 15 consecutive patients implanted in the operating room and group II was 15 consecutive patients implanted in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, all by the same operators. Hospital charges that were specific to the site of implantation were analyzed. Physician charges for implantation, anesthesiologist, and radiologist charges were not analyzed. There were no in-hospital complications in either group. The mean charges for group I were $1,856.00 and group II were $1,075.00 (P < 0.001). We conclude that implantation of permanent pacemakers in the cardiac catheterization laboratory is associated with significantly lower hospital charges compared to implantation in the operating room and has an equally low complication rate.