Neurointerventional procedures generate significant solid waste with varying disposal costs, with clinical waste accounting for more than 50% of the total, according to a study published February 24 in Radiology.
The finding is from researchers at University Hospital Salzburg in Austria who quantified waste generation in their neurointerventional angiography suite over a 90-day period from April to June 2025, noted Johannes Pfaff, MD, and colleagues.
“These findings underscore the urgency for sustainable practices within neurointerventional care to reduce both environmental footprints and costs,” the group wrote.
Neurointerventional procedures, characterized by their complexity and reliance on specialized, disposable materials, are no exception to generating waste in the healthcare sector, yet previous efforts to quantify waste in the field have been limited, according to the authors.
To bridge the gap, they measured and categorized waste generated during all consecutive neurointerventional procedures over the study period into six streams: general, clinical, recyclable paper, recyclable plastic, sharps, and glass. Staff were trained in proper waste separation, as well as to weigh waste using calibrated electronic scales after equipment disposal. The researchers subsequently obtained disposal costs for each waste stream from the waste management department.
For 100 neurointerventional procedures, the mean total solid waste per procedure was 6.7 kg, ranging from 3.2 kg to 15.7 kg. Clinical waste constituted the largest portion, averaging 3.5 kg per procedure (51.2%), while recyclable plastic averaged 1.4 kg (20.2%) and paper averaged 0.9 kg (13.4%).
Aneurysm treatments generated the highest average waste (8.9 kg), followed by mechanical thrombectomy (7.6 kg). Diagnostic angiographies and vasospasm treatments generated the least waste (5.2 kg and 5.4 kg, respectively).
The average disposal cost was approximately 1.3 euros ($1.53) per intervention, ranging from 1 euro ($1.18) for diagnostic cerebral angiography to 1.6 euros ($1.88) for aneurysm embolization. Finally, the total solid waste generated across all 100 procedures was 672.5 kg. Annually, this extrapolates to an estimated 2,690 kg of waste, the researchers reported.
“If all this waste were incinerated, it would result in approximately 722.3 kg of carbon dioxide emissions during the observation period, or 2,889 kg annually,” the group wrote.
That’s nearly equivalent to the annual emissions from an average household, they added.
The contribution of clinical waste, coupled with considerable amounts of recyclable plastic and paper, underscores the environmental burden of these procedures, the group wrote.
“Future studies should investigate material choices and the effectiveness of waste-reduction interventions,” the researchers concluded.
The full study is available here.
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