Cost of shock wave therapy

[injuryupdate]

ESWT is Australia seems to be very cheap by international standards. Here is an extract from an article in Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Review in the USA. Makes $A100-150 per treatment in Australia seem very cheap!:

ESWT is an office-based technology when using the low-voltage unit. It is technician operated, but it is mandatory that the physician be present. The usual charge is US$600 to $800 per treatment, and the recommended number of treatments is 3. There is a CPT code, but it is a ?T? code (ie, a tracking code). Approximately 30% of insurance companies are approving this technology today; however, that number seems to be increasing as the science becomes more accepted. Because the fee is minimal, a number of patients choose to pay cash, keeping the receipt for potential future reimbursement. Patients will occasionally elect surgery versus ESWT for financial reasons only. There is a cost associated with the machine, which varies from company to company, but in general there is a monthly lease plus a usage fee. In the case of the Sonocur device, the monthly lease is approximately $1600 to $1800 per month, with an application fee of $115 to $140 per treatment. This usually results in a 70% to 80% profit margin to the provider.

[Unregistered]

Need to consider that there are far more inexpensive placebo's on the market, with Tarot card reading being the most cost efficient one to dabble in

[Unregistered]

oooohh. Fight. Fight. Fight

[injuryupdate]

i would have though tarot cards were quite expensive, and they also can quite often give a bad result. I mean if you draw the DEATH card you are hardly going to get better.

[Syd Uni sports clinic]

From Aus Doctor - ?side effect of shock wave treatment

Lithotripsy could raise diabetes risk 27-Apr-2006

By Brad McLean

PATIENTS undergoing lithotripsy for nephrolithiasis may be at increased risk of diabetes and hypertension in later life, according to a 19-year follow-up of patients exposed to the procedure.


Lithotripsy has been the mainstay of treatment for renal and ureteral stones since the 1980s, with early studies yielding conflicting results about adverse events.

The latest study found lithotripsy patients had three times the risk of developing diabetes and almost a 50% increase in risk of hypertension compared with patients receiving medical management.

The increased diabetes risk remained after adjustment for BMI and was associated with the number and average intensity of shocks delivered, according to the retrospective review of 580 patients whose renal and ureteral stones were treated with either the Dornier HM-3 — the first lithotripter model — or medical management.

The study adds to evidence that shockwave lithotripsy may cause damage to the kidneys, pancreas and surrounding tissues.

“The pancreas is in the blast path of the HM-3 regardless of the side of treatment,” the study authors wrote in the Journal of Urology (May).

The HM-3 lithotripter might cause more damage to surrounding tissues because it had a larger focal zone than later models, but studies comparing models were needed.

“Although newer models have a smaller focal zone, they generate greater pressures,” the authors wrote.

Urologist Dr Lawrence Hayden, president of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand, said the potential risks needed to be evaluated in larger studies.

There were Dornier HM-3 machines still in use in Australia but most had undergone several revisions and they were far outnumbered by newer machines, he said.

A spokesman for one Sydney area health service that is replacing its Dornier HM-3, in use for many years, questioned the study findings, saying that many patients undergoing lithotripsy had pre-existing risk factors for diabetes and hypertension.

The Journal of Urology 2006; 175:1742-47.