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The Cost-Utility Analysis of PET-Scan in Diagnosis and Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma in Iran

AUTHORS

Ali Akbari Sari 1 , Hamid Ravaghi 2 , * , Mohammadreza Mobinizadeh 3 , * , Sima Sarvari 4

AUTHORS INFORMATION

1 Deptartment of Health Management and Economics, Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Department of Health Service Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Health Service Management, School of Management and Economics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

4 Department of Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China

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ARTICLE INFORMATION

Iranian Journal of Radiology: 10 (2); 61-7
Published Online: May 19, 2013
Article Type: Research Article
Received: October 11, 2012
Accepted: January 30, 2013
DOI : 10.5812/iranjradiol.8559
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Abstract

Background: PET scan is a non-invasive, complex and expensive medical imaging technology that is normally used for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases including lung cancer.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess the cost effectiveness of this technology in the diagnosis and treatment of non- small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) in Iran.

Materials and Methods: The main electronic databases including The Cochrane Library and Medline were searched to identify available evidence about the performance and effectiveness of technology. A standard decision tree model with seven strategies was used to perform the economic evaluation. Retrieved studies and expert opinion were used to estimate the cost of each treatment strategy in Iran. The costs were divided into three categories including capital costs (depreciation costs of buildings and equipment), staff costs and other expenses (including cost of consumables, running and maintenance costs). The costs were estimated in both IR-Rials and US-Dollars with an exchange rate of 10.000 IR Rials per one US Dollar according to the exchange rate in 2008.

Results: The total annual running cost of a PET scan was about 8850 to 13000 million Rials, (0.9 to 1.3 million US$). The average cost of performing a PET scan varied between 3 and 4.5 million Rials (300 to 450US$). The strategies 3 (mediastinoscopy alone) and 7 (mediastinoscopy after PET scan) were more cost-effective than other strategies, especially when the result of the CT-scan performed before PET scan was negative.

Conclusion: The technical performance of PET scan is significantly higher than similar technologies for staging and treatment of NSCLC. In addition, it might slightly improve the treatment process and lead to a small level of increase in the quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained by these patients making it cost-effective for the treatment of NSCLC.

Keywords

Positron-Emission Tomography Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma Economics

© 2013, Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.
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