Abstract
2778
Introduction: Cancer remains a significant cause of death worldwide. In 2020, approximately 19.3 million new cancer cases and 10.0 million cancer deaths were reported, with lung, colorectal liver, stomach, and female breast cancer accounting for the top five major causes of mortality. 18-FDG PET/CT plays a crucial role in the clinical management of cancer. It gives superior imaging information, compared with conventional CT alone, allowing accurate staging and re-staging of cancer needed for appropriate clinical decision making. Thus with the increasing inclusion of F-18 FDG PET/CT imaging in management algorithms of specific cancer types, it is necessary to integrate this technology in the health system as it potentially results in optimal health outcomes
Methods: A systematic review was conducted to determine current cost-effectiveness evidence of F-18 FDG PET/CT imaging alone or as an add-on to CT imaging over conventional CT scan alone in the management of cancer types representing the highest morbidity in cancer deaths: lung and colorectal cancer. Full economic evaluations were included.
Results: Medline and Embase database search yielded 560 records for the cost-effectiveness of F-18 FDG PET/CT over CT imaging. Out of these records, 32 papers were deemed eligible for full-text screening. Screening against the inclusion criteria narrowed eight records for data extraction and quality assessment. FIgure 1. Narrative synthesis was performed on the relevant extracted data. Relevant included studies shown in Figure 2.
Conclusions: Summary findings are all in agreement with the cost-effectiveness of F-18 FDG PET/CT as add-on imaging to CT in pre-operative staging of recurrent colon, recurrent rectal and metastatic disease and post-ablation staging of colorectal cancer. Cost-effectiveness of F-18 FDG PET/CT is also seen in the pre-operative staging of lung cancer, over usual care imaging practice (i.e., CT only). Although the methodologies varied, ICER values were below the pre-defined WTP threshold. Policymakers should consider funding this technology to improve the cancer management strategy within their health care system.
In this issue
Jump to section
Related Articles
Cited By...
- No citing articles found.