The Effects of Diagnosis-Related Group Payment on Diagnostic Cerebral Angiograms through a Transradial and Transfemoral Approach: A Comparative Observational Study.

Background: Cerebral angiography is an X-ray examination technique widely used in hospitals. At present, it is mainly divided into two kinds of angiography examination: transfemoral artery and transradial artery puncture. The diagnosis-related group (DRG) system is a new type of payment standard recognized internationally, but its impact on medical care and health outcomes is currently controversial.

Aim: In this study, we conducted a comparative study on two invasive approaches, transradial artery and transfemoral artery puncture and observed whether DRG had an impact on the quality of the medical process.

Methods: We compared and analyzed patients undergoing cerebral angiography via the femoral artery and radial artery puncture by recording the relevant parameters and comfort scale scores (GCQ) during the operation, as well as postoperative complications. At the same time, we observed the proportion of different puncture routes and the success rate of cerebral angiography before and after the implementation of a DRG payment simulation.

Results: The results of the comparative analysis of patients' transradial artery and transfemoral artery puncture angiography showed that the puncture success rate (99.1% vs. 97.2%, > 0.05), angiography success rate (97.3% vs. 95.1%, > 0.05), and X-ray radiation time (4.82 vs. 5.15 min, > 0.05) demonstrated no significant difference. The ambulation time (1.52 vs. 12.06 h, < 0.05), puncture time (22.42 vs. 31.02 min, < 0.05), and complications (3.57% vs. 9.03%, < 0.05) of the radial artery group were significantly lower than those of the femoral artery group. In contrast, the GCQ score of the radial artery group at each stage after angiography was significantly higher than that of the femoral artery group ( < 0.05). Compared with before the DRG simulation, the proportion of cerebral angiography with transradial artery puncture increased significantly after its implementation.

Conclusion: Compared with transfemoral cerebrovascular angiography, transradial cerebrovascular angiography has many advantages, such as less local damage, less pain, less postoperative bed-rest time, significantly lower incidence of total complications, and a lower cost. Following the implementation of the DRG payment method, the quality of the angiography medical process improved.