Gwenaelle M Vidal-Trecan

PubMed2005

Surgery versus medical follow-up in patients with asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism: a decision analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the cost-effectiveness of strategies for management of primary asymptomatic hyperparathyroidism: surgical strategies and medical follow-up versus surgery. DESIGN: We used a Markov state-transition decision-analytic model for an hypothetical cohort of 55-year-old women to compare with a lifetime horizon costs and effectiveness of bilateral neck exploration (BNE), unilateral neck exploration (UNE), video-assisted parathyroidectomy (VAP) and lifelong medical follow-up shifting for either BNE or UNE in case of disease progression. METHODS: Data on localization tests, complications and treatment efficacies were derived from a systematic review of the literature. Outcomes were expressed as quality-adjusted life years (QALY). Costs (2002 Euro) discounted at 3% yearly were estimated from the health care system perspective. RESULTS: In the base-case analysis, VAP strategy (VAPS) was the most effective and BNE strategy (BNES) was the least costly. UNE strategy (UNES) had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 2688 Euro/QALY versus BNES and VAPS of 17,250 Euro/QALY in comparison with UNES. Surgical management was more effective than medical follow-up with acceptable incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. VAPS became less effective than UNES over 71 years. Differences between UNES and VAPS were sensitive to success and complication rates, quality-of-life weights and procedural costs. Medical follow-up strategies became the most effective if quality-of-life weight for this condition was higher than 0.99. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery is more effective than medical follow-up at a reasonable cost and can be preferred except in patients choosing medical follow-up. Minimally invasive surgery is cost-effective compared to the traditional surgical approach.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

PubMed2002

Managing toxic thyroid adenoma: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the cost-effectiveness of therapeutic strategies for patients with toxic thyroid adenoma. DESIGN: A decision analytic model was used to examine strategies, including thyroid lobectomy after a 3-month course of antithyroid drugs (ATDs), radioactive iodine (RAI), and lifelong ATDs followed by either RAI (ATD-RAI) or surgery (ATD-surgery) in patients suffering severe drug reactions. METHODS: Outcomes were measured in quality-adjusted life years. Data on the prevalence of co-incident thyroid cancer, complications and treatment efficacies were derived from a systematic review of the literature (1966-2000). Costs were examined from the health care system perspective. Costs and effectiveness were examined at their present values. Discounting (3% per year), variations of major cost components, and every variable for which disagreements exist among studies or expert opinion were examined by sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: For a 40-year-old woman, surgery was both the most effective and the least costly strategy (Euro 1391),while ATD-RAI cost the most (Euro 5760). RAI was more effective than surgery if surgical mortality exceeded 0.6% (base-case 0.001%). RAI become less costly for women of more than 72 years (more than 66 in discounted analyses). For women of 85, ATD-RAI may be more effective than RAI and have an inexpensive marginal cost-effectiveness ratio (Euro 4975) if lifelong follow-up results in no decrement in quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Age, surgical mortality, therapeutic costs and patient preference must all be considered in choosing an appropriate therapy.

Adenoma↗