Circumcisions In Doctors' Offices As Safe As Those In...( COLUMBUS O...),Health

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- New research shows that boys circumcised in a doctor's office fare just as well after the procedure as those who were circumcised in a hospital operating room.

Researchers compared the medical and economic outcomes of 532 circumcisions performed either in a doctor's office or an operating room. Only four patients in each group experienced complications. The cost savings in having the circumcisions done in the doctor's office were estimated at $1,609 per procedure, for an overall savings of $184,713 annually in this group of patients.

"There are tremendous savings by doing circumcisions under local anesthesia and avoiding a trip to the operating room," said Venkata Jayanthi, a clinical assistant professor of surgery at Ohio State University and Children's Hospital in Columbus.

Jayanthi co-authored the study with Joanna Burns, a registered nurse at Children's Hospital, and Stephen Koff, a professor of surgery at Ohio State. The research appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Urology.

The researchers divided the boys into two groups -- 287 infants aged 3 days to 9 months were circumcised in the doctor's office under local anesthesia, while 245 boys aged 6 months to 15 years were circumcised in an operating room under general anesthesia. The circumcisions took plac
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Contact: Venkata Jayanthi
rjayanth@chi.osu.edu
614-722-6625
Ohio State University
28-Apr-1999