The method presented recurrences less frequent than those found in literature.
The growth of technological innovation, the request for assistance, the rising patient��s expectations and the interest of the industry have led to a rise selleck Nilotinib in the cost of health care systems. In this context the role of the National Health System is not to delay the development or adoption of new technologies, but rather to drive the development selecting priorities and promoting its use. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach for analyzing the medical-clinical, social, organizational, economic, ethical and legal implications of a technology (devices, drugs, procedures) through the assessment of multiple parameters such as effectiveness, safety, costs of the social and organizational impact.

A health technology assessment is a comprehensive, systematic evaluation of the prerequisites for estimating the consequences of using health technology. Main characteristic of HTA is that the problem is tackled using an approach focused on four main elements: – technology; – patient; – organization; – economy. The authors have applied the HTA method for the analysis of the ultrasonic focus dissector on thyroid surgery. They compared the cost of the surgical procedure using the ultrasonic dissector and without it in a case study of 440 patients who underwent thyroidectomy. Keywords: HTA, Thyroid surgery Introduction The growth of technological innovation, the increased request for assistance due to the aging population, the rising expectations of patients and the interest of the industry, have led to a rise in the cost of health care systems.

In this context the role of the National Health System is not to delay the development or adoption of new technologies, but rather to drive their development, selecting priorities and promoting their use. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach for analyzing the medical-clinical, social, organizational, economic, ethical and legal implications of a technology (devices, drugs, procedures), through the assessment of multiple dimensions such as effectiveness, safety, costs the social and organizational impact (1�C3). The objective is to assess the actual and/or potential of the technology, both prior to and during the entire life cycle, as well as the consequences of the introduction or exclusion of an intervention for the health system in the economy society.

This methodology has been applied to evaluate the Drug_discovery opportunity to introduce routine use in thyroid surgery of the ultrasonic dissector Harmonic focus. Patients and methods On 2012, in the Unit of endocrine surgery of the Department A.O. ��S. Maria�� (Terni, Italy), 220 thyroidectomies were carried out using the focus and 220 without instruments.