Recently, a toxicoeconomic study was done to compare length of stay and costs of hospitalization of a group who received
IV n-acetylcysteine (n=191) to those received oral n-acetylcysteine (n=70) prior to the availability of the intravenous formulation.
What they found was that patients treated with IV acetylcysteine had a decreased length of stay (4 days vs 7 days, p< 0.001) and cost of hospitalization ($7,607 vs $18,287, p<0.001) compared to the enteral group.
References
Martello JL, Pummer TL, Krenzelok EP. Cost minimization analysis comparing enteral N-acetylcysteine to intravenous acetylcysteine in the management of acute acetaminophen toxicity. Clin Tox Jan 2010; 48(1):79-83
