[Cost effectiveness evaluation of breast cancer therapy. Comparative analysis 1975-1985 in a cancer prevention center]

We describe a retrospective and comparative assessment of the medical care of breast cancer among women in a French comprehensive cancer center, the Centre Claudius Regaud. There was no significant difference for the clinical results between two cohorts of women, treated in 1975 and 1985 respectively, for equivalent stages of disease. The overall increase in survival resulted mainly from early diagnosis. Locoregional treatment cost and conservative treatment cost, from official Social Security costs, did not increase between the two periods. However, a high risk of metastasis risk during the first treatment, or recurrence during the follow-up, resulted in differences in cost-effectiveness between 1975 and 1985. Although these results must be interpreted with caution, this analysis raises strategic questions about the suitability of some medical practices, particularly in the care of evolutive neoplasm.