ArticlePlastic surgery international2014
Helping hands: a cost-effectiveness study of a humanitarian hand surgery mission.
Article in Plastic surgery international, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Economic value of international missions and domestic initiatives to strengthen surgical care in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review.The British journal of surgery · 2025Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Health Economic Evaluations and Budget Impact Analyses to Inform Healthcare Decision-Making in Central America.Applied health economics and health policy · 2023Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Orthopedic Global Outreach Efforts Based on WHO-CHOICE Thresholds.Hand clinics · 2019Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Economic Analysis of Surgical Mission Trips Using the World Health Organization Criteria.World journal of surgery · 2016Pooled it
- Economic Evaluation of a Global Reconstructive Surgery Visiting Educator Program.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2022Article
- Methods for estimating economic benefits of surgical interventions in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Economic Analyses of Surgical Trips to the Developing World: Current Concepts and Future Strategies.Hand clinics · 2019Review
- Functional and Quality of Life Outcomes of a Hand Surgery Mission to Honduras.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2018Article
- Cost-Effectiveness in Global Surgery: Pearls, Pitfalls, and a Checklist.World journal of surgery · 2017Review
- Effects of short-term medical mission trips to Chiapas, Mexico, on the religiosity of the missionaries.The Linacre quarterly · 2017Article
- Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Total Hip Arthroplasty Performed by a Canadian Short-Stay Surgical Team in Ecuador.Advances in orthopedics · 2017Article
- Cost-effectiveness of short-term neurosurgical missions relative to other surgical specialties.Surgical neurology international · 2017Article
- Measuring Functional and Patient-Reported Outcomes After Treatment of Mutilating Hand Injuries: A Global Health Approach.Hand clinics · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose. Congenital anomalies and injuries of the hand are often undertreated in low-middle income countries (LMICs). Humanitarian missions to LMICs are commonplace, but few exclusively hand surgery missions have been reported and none have attempted to demonstrate their cost-effectiveness. We present the first study evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a humanitarian hand surgery mission to Honduras as a method of reducing the global burden of surgically treatable disease. Methods. Data were collected from a hand surgery mission to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Costs were estimated for local and volunteer services. The total burden of disease averted from patients receiving surgical reconstruction was derived using the previously described disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) system. Results. After adjusting for likelihood of disability associated with the diagnosis and likelihood of the surgery's success, DALYs averted totaled 104.6. The total cost for the mission was $45,779 (USD). The cost per DALY averted was calculated to be $437.80 (USD), which is significantly below the accepted threshold of two times the per capita gross national income of Honduras. Conclusions. This hand surgery humanitarian mission trip to Honduras was found to be cost-effective. This model and analysis should help in guiding healthcare professionals to organize future plastic surgery humanitarian missions.
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Registered trials
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