Pharmacoeconomic considerations in peripheral arterial thrombolytic therapy.

Intraarterial thrombolytic therapy with urokinase (UK) offers documented advantages to alternatives for treating both subacute and the initial presentation of acute peripheral arterial occlusion (PAO), including reduced morbidity and mortality. Treatment with intraarterial UK does not increase overall health care costs; hospital length of stay is either similar to that with other therapies (acute PAO) or is shortened (subacute PAO). Total hospital charges associated with use of intraarterial UK are also not significantly elevated. Thus, thrombolysis with UK offers both a clinically superior and a cost-beneficial way to treat PAO.