Peripheral Artery Disease (Leg) Stent and Angioplasty Cost Calculator
This calculator estimates the out-of-pocket cost of treating peripheral artery disease (PAD) of the lower extremity in Korea and keeps the same pure calculation model as the Korean page. It covers plain balloon angioplasty (POBA), drug-coated balloon (DCB), self-expanding nitinol or drug-eluting stent (DES), and surgical bypass for the leg arteries. Its defining point is that lower-extremity PAD is treated very differently from coronary stents or aortic aneurysm for cost: atherosclerotic leg PAD (I70) is NOT a special-case condition, so the ordinary 20 percent inpatient benefit copay applies instead of the 5 percent cardiac special case. Only Buerger disease (thromboangiitis obliterans, I73.1) qualifies — as a rare-disease special case at 10 percent for 5 years. All figures are planning estimates based on 2026 Korean rules, not medical advice.
Treatment options and covered fees
Plain balloon angioplasty (POBA) opens the narrowed artery with a simple balloon; it is the cheapest option (ordinary benefit, 20 percent copay) but has a high restenosis rate, so for the femoropopliteal segment a drug-coated balloon or a stent is often added. A drug-coated balloon (DCB) coats the vessel wall with paclitaxel to reduce restenosis and is the standard for the femoropopliteal artery. A stent — self-expanding nitinol or drug-eluting (DES) — is used for the iliac artery or when angioplasty leaves a dissection or residual stenosis. Surgical bypass reroutes blood around a long occlusion using the patient’s own vein (preferred) or a prosthetic (PTFE) graft, chosen for long lesions or critical limb ischemia.
The model uses defensible market estimates because Korea publishes no single price for leg-artery procedures: POBA about KRW 1,800,000 procedure fee plus KRW 400,000 per balloon; DCB about KRW 1,900,000 plus KRW 1,800,000 per drug-coated balloon; stent about KRW 2,000,000 plus KRW 2,200,000 per stent; bypass about KRW 5,000,000 plus a KRW 800,000 prosthetic graft. A covered ICU day is KRW 600,000 and a general ward day is KRW 150,000, and a lesion-location surcharge is added for the femoropopliteal (+KRW 200,000) and below-knee (+KRW 400,000) segments.
- POBA — plain balloon, benefit 20 percent, cheapest, higher restenosis.
- DCB — paclitaxel balloon, full benefit (not selective benefit), 20 percent, femoropopliteal standard.
- Stent — nitinol or DES, full benefit 20 percent; device counts beyond the covered limit are full self-pay.
- Bypass — surgery with vein or PTFE graft, benefit 20 percent, 1 to 2 week stay.
Why leg PAD is NOT the 5 percent special case
The Korean special-case program (Ministry of Health and Welfare notice on special-case cost sharing) lowers the copay for listed severe conditions. The cardiac special case includes atherosclerosis of the aorta (I70.0) and aortic aneurysm and dissection (I71) at 5 percent, but atherosclerosis of the arteries of the extremities (I70.2) and lower-extremity PAD in general are not on the list. So the same kind of blocked-artery disease is a special case in the heart (coronary) and aorta, but not in the legs, where the ordinary inpatient benefit copay of 20 percent applies.
The difference is large in practice. For an identical KRW 5,000,000 covered total, a coronary stent at the 5 percent special case costs KRW 250,000, while a leg-artery stent at 20 percent costs KRW 1,000,000 — four times more. Many patients assume a leg stent is covered like a heart stent and are surprised by the bill, so this calculator computes leg PAD at 20 percent (Buerger disease at 10 percent) to set expectations correctly.
Buerger disease is the rare-disease special case (10 percent)
The one lower-extremity exception is Buerger disease (thromboangiitis obliterans, I73.1). It is a rare inflammatory vaso-occlusive disease, mostly in young male smokers, and is a rare-disease special case (special code V129): once registered, the benefit copay drops to 10 percent for 5 years from the registration date. Unlike atherosclerotic PAD, Buerger disease requires a separate special-case registration, and devices beyond the covered count (full self-pay), upper-grade rooms, and non-covered items are still not reduced to 10 percent.
Above all, tobacco is both the cause and the driver of Buerger disease, so complete smoking cessation is the single most important treatment — more than any procedure. Even after angioplasty or bypass, continued smoking causes relapse and progression that can end in amputation, so lowering the cost with the special case must go together with quitting smoking. Selecting Buerger disease in the calculator applies the 10 percent rate automatically so you can compare it with the 20 percent atherosclerosis rate.
DCB and DES are full benefit, not selective benefit
Drug-coated balloons and drug-eluting stents are often assumed to be non-covered or 50 percent selective benefit, but for femoropopliteal PAD they are full benefit (yougyang benefit) at 20 percent. Coverage requires 70 percent or greater stenosis, or 50 percent or greater in-stent restenosis. The device unit cost is higher than a plain balloon, but the copay rate is the same, so the drug-coated balloon is widely used in the femoropopliteal artery for its lower restenosis.
There is a covered-count limit: about 3 drug-coated balloons per side in the femoral artery, 2 drug-eluting stents per side, and 1 each in the popliteal artery; a same-side DCB-plus-DES combination is not covered. Devices beyond the covered count, or the non-covered combination, become full self-pay (100 percent) and are not reduced by the special case or the out-of-pocket ceiling, so the calculator separates the covered device cost (at the copay rate) from the excess device cost (full self-pay) when you enter the device count.
Lesion location and severity drive the cost
Leg arteries are divided by location — iliac (pelvis), femoropopliteal (thigh and behind the knee), and below-the-knee (BTK, the three calf arteries) — and each has different treatment and cost. The iliac artery does well with stents (high patency), the femoropopliteal is the most common site where the drug-coated balloon is standard, and the below-knee arteries are thin and multiple, so POBA is used to open several vessels. BTK lesions are often diffuse and multi-vessel with a low patency rate, so repeat procedures are common; even with low patency, wound healing and limb salvage are often achievable.
Severity is either intermittent claudication or critical limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI). Claudication (Rutherford 1 to 3) causes calf pain only on walking that resolves with rest, is treated electively, and needs a short stay. CLTI (Rutherford 4 to 6) has rest pain and foot ulcers or gangrene, is urgent, needs multiple-vessel revascularization or bypass, and adds wound care and antibiotics, so cost and length of stay rise sharply. The calculator adds a severe-care surcharge and extra ward days automatically when you select CLTI.
- Iliac — stent-friendly, high patency, usually 1 device.
- Femoropopliteal — most common, DCB standard, long lesions.
- Below-knee (BTK) — CLTI, multi-vessel, POBA-based, frequent repeat procedures.
- CLTI carries about a 20 percent five-year amputation risk (about 34 percent with diabetes) and a roughly 48 percent five-year mortality.
Amputation, disability registration, and the tax credit
The feared outcome of CLTI is amputation. Without prompt revascularization, roughly 20 percent are amputated within 5 years (about 34 percent with diabetes), so a non-healing or blackening foot wound is an emergency that needs urgent assessment. Amputation itself is not a special case, but after amputation a separate physical-disability registration (Disability Welfare Act) proceeds, and people with a registered disability or a severe illness can use the exemption from the KRW 7,000,000 cap on the medical expense tax credit.
Leg-artery procedures and bypass are mostly inpatient, so they are reimbursed as inpatient medical expenses under private indemnity insurance: the benefit self-pay and the excess (full self-pay) device cost are reimbursed after the generation-based deductible, while upper-grade room charges are usually reimbursed up to 50 percent. Covered self-pay above the income-tier out-of-pocket ceiling (about KRW 900,000 to 8,430,000 in 2026) is refunded, but the ceiling refund is not double-paid by indemnity, and full self-pay and non-covered items are outside the ceiling.
How to read the result
Enter the modality (POBA, DCB, stent, or bypass), lesion location, diagnosis (atherosclerosis or Buerger disease), severity (claudication or CLTI), device count (for endovascular types), and ICU and ward days. Then set hospital grade, insurance type, upper-grade room days, other non-covered cost, private indemnity generation, income decile, and the out-of-pocket ceiling. The result shows the covered self-pay after the ceiling, the excess device cost at full self-pay, the 20 percent versus Buerger 10 percent comparison, a modality comparison, the ceiling refund, and the final cost after private indemnity and the tax credit.
This is a cost-planning estimate based on 2026 Korean rules, not medical advice. Public single-price tables for leg-artery procedures do not exist, so the device and fee figures are defensible market estimates that vary with hospital, lesion location and length, device count, severity, and complications. Confirm details with the treating vascular team, the insurer, and the hospital quote, and remember that smoking cessation and risk-factor control are the best way to avoid the repeat-procedure costs of restenosis.
This calculator is based on Korean rules (2026 National Health Insurance: lower-extremity atherosclerotic PAD is not a special-case condition so the ordinary 20 percent inpatient copay applies, Buerger disease I73.1 is a rare-disease special case at 10 percent for 5 years, drug-coated balloons and drug-eluting stents are full benefit with device counts beyond the covered limit billed as full self-pay, the out-of-pocket ceiling, and the Income Tax Act Article 59-4 medical expense tax credit), with market cost estimates for devices and procedure fees. Figures are planning estimates, not medical advice, an insurer decision, or a hospital quote.