Facoemulsifica？？o versus extra？？o extracapsular no sistema público de saúde: análise de custos para o hospital, para o governo e para a sociedade

purpose: to compare the costs of cataract surgery for a public hospital, the government and the society between the techniques of phacoemulsification (phaco) and extracapsular cataract extraction (eecp). methods: a review based on several clinical studies between 2002 and 2010 at the ambulatorial surgical center of the university of s？o paulo. results: the estimated expenses associated with medical supplies used for surgery were r$ 468.92 and r$ 259.96 in the phaco and eecp groups respectivelly. the hospital expenditures in the postoperative follow-up was approximately r$ 16.40 (42%) lower in the phaco. regarding the estimated spending for social security, the eecp group cost an average, us$ 44.58 per patient more than the phaco group.