e16149 Background: Though the treatment landscape for HCC has changed significantly in the last several years with the refinement of liver-directed therapy techniques and the introduction of multiple new drugs, few studies have investigated the impact of the changing treatment landscape on lifetime treatment costs, particularly in Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C disease. We therefore sought to investigate real-world clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, healthcare use, and costs in patients with HCC treated at a single high-volume institution in WA. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with HCC between 2007 and 2018 at a single clinical cancer center using a database containing abstracted data from the electronic medical record (EMR) linked to cancer registry data and health claims from commercial insurance plans, Medicare, and Medicaid. We described clinical characteristics, including BCLC stage and Child Pugh score, and treatment patterns. We investigated the mean per patient lifetime treatment costs by BCLC stage using Kaplan-Meier cost estimator methods. Results: The final cohort included 215 patients, majority white (71%), male (68%), and with underlying hepatitis C (61%). Most patients had either Child Pugh A (76%) or B (20%) liver disease and BCLC A (45%), B (20%), or C (19%) stage HCC. Only 40% of BCLC C patients received systemic chemotherapy. Mean per patient lifetime costs were highest in BCLC A ($289,318) and BCLC C ($255,430) patients and lowest in BCLC D ($123,701) patients (Table). Surgical costs, hospital costs, imaging, and outpatient visits were the major contributors to total lifetime costs in BCLC A patients. Chemotherapy costs were highest in BCLC C patients, but still were not the predominant area of spending. Conclusions: In a WA state cohort of HCC patients, mean lifetime costs were highest in patients with BCLC A disease, largely driven by surgery and hospital costs. As utilization of newer and less toxic therapies in BCLC C patients increases, mean lifetime costs in this group may surpass other stages.[Table: see text]
Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Patterns Among Patients Diagnosed With Cluster Headache in U.S. Healthcare Claims Data
