1. Health-economic evaluation of three imaging strategies in patients with suspected colorectal liver metastases: Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI vs. extracellular contrast media-enhanced MRI and 3-phase MDCT in Germany, Italy and Sweden.
- Author
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Zech CJ, Grazioli L, Jonas E, Ekman M, Niebecker R, Gschwend S, Breuer J, Jönsson L, and Kienbaum S
- Subjects
- Colorectal Neoplasms epidemiology, Contrast Media economics, Germany epidemiology, Humans, Italy epidemiology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging statistics & numerical data, Sweden epidemiology, Colorectal Neoplasms diagnosis, Colorectal Neoplasms economics, Gadolinium DTPA economics, Health Care Costs statistics & numerical data, Liver Neoplasms diagnosis, Liver Neoplasms economics, Liver Neoplasms epidemiology, Liver Neoplasms secondary, Magnetic Resonance Imaging economics, Tomography, X-Ray Computed statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
The purpose of this study was to perform an economic evaluation of hepatocyte-specific Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI (PV-MRI) compared to extracellular contrast-media-enhanced MRI (ECCM-MRI) and three-phase-MDCT as initial modalities in the work-up of patients with metachronous colorectal liver metastases. The economic evaluation was performed with a decision-tree model designed to estimate all aggregated costs depending on the initial investigation. Probabilities on the need for further imaging to come to a treatment decision were collected through interviews with 13 pairs of each a radiologist and a liver surgeon in Germany, Italy and Sweden. The rate of further imaging needed was 8.6% after initial PV-MRI, 18.5% after ECCM-MRI and 23.5% after MDCT. Considering the cost of all diagnostic work-up, intra-operative treatment changes and unnecessary surgery, a strategy starting with PV-MRI with 959 Euro was cost-saving compared to ECCM-MRI (1,123 Euro) and MDCT (1,044 Euro) in Sweden. In Italy and Germany, PV-MRI was cost-saving compared to ECCM-MRI and had total costs similar to MDCT. In conclusion, our results indicate that PV-MRI can lead to cost savings by improving pre-operative planning and decreasing intra-operative changes. The higher cost of imaging with PV-MRI is offset in such a scenario by lower costs for additional imaging and less intra-operative changes.
- Published
- 2009
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