Costs of long-course palliative radiotherapy acceptable in late-stage l...( osts of the long-course radiotherapy we...),Health

osts of the long-course radiotherapy were $16,490 and the short-course radiotherapy costs were $11,164, a $5,326 difference. In their final calculations, the authors found that, although the dollar costs of the long-course radiotherapy were higher than those of the short course, the benefit in improved survival meant that the long-course treatment yielded benefit at an acceptable cost by current economic standards.

"In our group of poor-prognosis nonsmall-cell lung cancer patients, the additional costs of the protracted radiotherapy schedule were justified by longer survival rather than by improved quality of life," the authors conclude.

The authors point out that their study does not show that long-course radiotherapy reduces costs. In addition, areas with limited radiotherapy facilities may find it more efficient to treat patients with the shorter course. Finally, different countries and regions may have different economic factors that influence the decision of which radiotherapy regimen to use.

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Contact: Andrea Widener
jncimedia@oxfordjournals.org
301-841-1287
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
19-Dec-2006


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