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A battle persists about the best treatment approach for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): Surgeons argue that antireflux surgery is the most pragmatic and cost-effective approach, and gastroenterologists argue that medical therapy is less expensive than surgery if all composite costs are included. In this industry-supported, retrospective, claims-data analysis, researchers compared direct and indirect healthcare costs (from a third -party payer perspective) during the year after index procedures in 61 patients who underwent laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication (LNF) and in 178 age- and sex-matched controls who received medical therapy. Costs for the index LNF or presurgical endoscopy were not included in the analysis.
Outcome variables i…