Cost-Effectiveness of Adding an Electron-Beam Boost to Tangential Radiation Therapy in Patients With Negative Margins After Conservative Surgery for Early-Stage Breast Cancer

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Hayman ◽  
Bruce E. Hillner ◽  
Jay R. Harris ◽  
Lori J. Pierce ◽  
Jane C. Weeks

PURPOSE: Electron-beam boosts (EBB) are routinely added after conservative surgery and tangential radiation therapy (TRT) for early-stage breast cancer. We performed an incremental cost-utility analysis to evaluate their cost-effectiveness. METHODS: A Markov model examined the impact of adding an EBB to TRT from a societal perspective. Outcomes were measured in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). On the basis of the Lyon trial, the EBB was assumed to reduce local recurrences by approximately 2% at 10 years but to have no impact on survival. Patients’ utilities were used to adjust for quality of life. Given the small absolute benefit of the EBB, baseline utilities were assumed to be the same with or without it, an assumption evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation. Direct medical, time, and travel costs were considered. RESULTS: Adding the EBB led to an additional cost of $2,008, an increase of 0.0065 QALYs and, therefore, an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of over $300,000/QALY. In a sensitivity analysis, the ratio was moderately sensitive to the efficacy and cost of the EBB and highly sensitive to patients’ utilities for treatment without it. Even if patients do value a small risk reduction, the mean cost-effectiveness ratio estimated by the Monte Carlo simulation remains high, at $70,859/QALY (95% confidence interval, $53,141 to $105,182/QALY). CONCLUSION: On the basis of currently available data, the cost-effectiveness ratio for the EBB is well above the commonly cited threshold for cost-effective care ($50,000/QALY). The EBB becomes cost-effective only if patients place an unexpectedly high value on the small absolute reduction in local recurrences achievable with it.

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 1022-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Hayman ◽  
B E Hillner ◽  
J R Harris ◽  
J C Weeks

PURPOSE To examine the cost-effectiveness of radiation therapy following conservative surgery for early-stage breast cancer. METHODS Using a Markov model, a cost-utility analysis was performed to compare a strategy of radiation therapy versus no radiation therapy in a hypothetical cohort of 60-year-old women following conservative surgery. Local recurrence, distant recurrence, and survival rates used in the model were derived from randomized trial data. Utilities for the nonmetastatic health states were collected from actual patients. Direct medical costs were estimated using data from a single institution. Transportation and time costs were also estimated. Years of life, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), costs, and incremental cost/QALY over a 10-year time horizon were calculated by the model for each strategy. RESULTS The addition of radiation therapy results in a cost increase of $9,800 per patient, no change in life expectancy, and an increase of 0.35 QALYs per patient, which leads to an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $28,000/QALY, which is well below $50,000/QALY, a commonly cited threshold for cost-effective care. Sensitivity analysis shows the ratio to be heavily influenced by the cost of radiation therapy and the quality-of-life benefit that results from decreased risk of local recurrence. CONCLUSION Radiation therapy following conservative surgery is cost-effective compared with other accepted medical interventions. This study illustrates the importance of considering an intervention's effect on quality of life, as well as survival in defining cost-effectiveness.


Immunotherapy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Jiang ◽  
Zhichao He ◽  
Tiantian Zhang ◽  
Chongchong Guo ◽  
Jianli Zhao ◽  
...  

Aim: To evaluate the cost–effectiveness of ribociclib plus fulvestrant versus fulvestrant in hormone receptor-positive/human EGF receptor 2-negative advanced breast cancer. Materials & methods: A three-state Markov model was developed to evaluate the costs and effectiveness over 10 years. Direct costs and utility values were obtained from previously published studies. We calculated incremental cost–effectiveness ratio to evaluate the cost–effectiveness at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $150,000 per additional quality-adjusted life year. Results: The incremental cost–effectiveness ratio was $1,073,526 per quality-adjusted life year of ribociclib plus fulvestrant versus fulvestrant. Conclusions: Ribociclib plus fulvestrant is not cost-effective versus fulvestrant in the treatment of advanced hormone receptor-positive/human EGF receptor 2-negative breast cancer. When ribociclib is at 10% of the full price, ribociclib plus fulvestrant could be cost-effective.


1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1252-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Hayman ◽  
D L Fairclough ◽  
J R Harris ◽  
J C Weeks

PURPOSE To assess patients' preferences regarding the trade-off between risks and benefits of radiation therapy after conservative surgery for early-stage breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Utilities (measures of preference) of 97 early-stage breast cancer patients treated with conservative surgery and radiation therapy and 20 medical oncology nurses were assessed for five health states using standard gambles. RESULTS Patients had the highest mean utility for treatment with conservative surgery and radiation therapy without a local recurrence (0.92), intermediate utilities for treatment with conservative surgery alone followed either by no local recurrence or by a local recurrence salvaged by conservative surgery and radiation therapy (0.88 and 0.87, respectively), and the lowest utilities for treatment with or without radiation therapy followed by a local recurrence salvaged by mastectomy and reconstructive surgery (0.82 and 0.81, respectively). All differences between health states' utilities were significant (P < .0001), except between the two intermediate and two lowest rated health states. None of the clinical or sociodemographic factors examined explained more than 5% of the variability in the patients' utilities or their differences. Nurses' utilities were similar to those of the patients. CONCLUSIONS These results strongly suggest that fear of a local recurrence and an actual local recurrence leading to mastectomy have such a negative impact on quality of life that patients are willing to accept the risks and inconvenience of radiation therapy to avoid them. There is also considerable interpatient variability that was not explained by the clinical or sociodemographic factors examined.


Radiology ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 187 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Krishnan ◽  
W R Jewell ◽  
C M Mansfield ◽  
E K Reddy ◽  
J H Thomas ◽  
...  

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