Economic Evaluations in Surgery

Surgical innovations to solve surgical problems are constantly appearing in the literature. The authors often claim that these innovations are cost-effective and recommend that we adopt them. Unfortunately, the term “cost-effective” is often misused or misinterpreted. The term “cost-effective” has a precise meaning in economic evaluations and requires the integration of costs and effectiveness of a novel surgical innovation compared to a prevailing one (technique or approach). This chapter, through a clinical scenario, explains the approach the reader should take in critically appraising novel surgical innovations before adopting them in their clinical practice.