Health Econ

Colorectal cancer screening: efficiency and effectiveness.

Year 1998
Gyrd-Hansen D. Sogaard J. Kronborg O.
Centre for Health and Social Policy, Odense University, Denmark. d.hansen@chsmed.ou.dk
The cost-effectiveness of a series of mutually exclusive colorectal cancer screening programmes with varying screening interval and target group are analysed. Costs and effects for 60 possible screening programmes are simulated on the basis of data collected from a randomized trial initiated in 1985 in Funen County, Denmark. The screening test applied is the unhydrated Hemoccult-II. The analysis identifies six efficient programmes with cost-effectiveness estimates ranging from 17000 to 42500 Danish kroner (DKK) per life-year.

Faecal occult blood screening for colorectal cancer: is it cost-effective?

Year 1998
Whynes DK. Neilson AR. Walker AR. Hardcastle JD.
Department of Economics, University of Nottingham, UK.
Recently published evidence from two large-scale clinical trials conducted in England and in Denmark suggests that faecal occult blood screening for colorectal cancer significantly reduces mortality. However, before screening can be advocated as part of national health policy, its cost-effectiveness must be demonstrated. The English screening trial has been the subject of a detailed economic evaluation over the past 10 years In this paper, cost-effectiveness estimates of screening are presented, based on cost and outcome data combined in a mathematical model developed from the trial's clinical findings The estimates of cost per quality-adjusted life-year gained from colorectal cancer screening show the procedure to be of similar cost-effectiveness to breast cancer screening in the short term. Over the longer term, however, the estimates for colorectal cancer screening appear superior.

Reduced uncertainty as a diagnostic benefit: an initial assessment of somatostatic receptor scintigraphys value in detecting distant metastases of carcinoid liver tumours.

Year 1998
Woodward RS. Schnitzler MA. Kvols LK.
Health Administration Program, School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. rsw@wubios.wustl.edu
This paper employs classical concepts of diminishing marginal utility to demonstrate that risk-aversion can increase the perceived value of diagnostic procedures and thus raise optimum diagnostic expenditures. The theory is applied to a model in the spirit of Phelps and Mushlin's initial technology assessments. The specific evaluation is the cost-effectiveness of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy used to detect distant metastases of carcinoid liver tumours in a patient otherwise eligible for surgical resection of the liver. Data for the model are taken from published sources and financial databases, when available, and otherwise from a senior clinician's experience (LKK). The quantitative results indicate that receptor scintigraphy may have two beneficial impacts to risk-neutral individuals. First, it may reduce the combined costs of therapy and treatment because the diagnostic procedure costs less than the expected savings generated by avoiding inappropriate surgeries. Second, it may improve the patient's expected health-status-adjusted life years (HSALY) because the information allows physicians to better match treatment to the cancer's stage. Finally the paper demonstrates that risk aversion, as embodied in classical diminishing marginal utility applied to health status, can increase the value of the diagnostic tests and can lead the patient to choose a less beneficial treatment. An illustrative risk-averse utility function changed the optimum treatment from surgery to chemotherapy and increased scintigraphy's benefit by 500%.