Ultra-radical surgery compared to standard surgical treatment for women
with advanced ovarian cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis
Abstract
Objective To compare current surgical practice for women with AOC to
ultra-radical surgery; to assess whether the new approach would be
cost-effective under NICE guidelines of approximately £20,000/QALY.
Design Cost-effectiveness analysis. Setting NHS, using data from a
variety of sources. Population Patients with advanced ovarian cancer
(FIGO stages IIIC-IV). Methods A decision analytic model
(microsimulation model) was built to examine the Objective;
deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were used to test
the susceptibilities of the baseline model and its assumptions. Main
Outcome Measures ICER (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio). Results
The standard model yielded an ICER of £5325.06; this is in spite of an
associated overall decrease in utility due to predicted increase in
surgical mortality. The parameters with the most significant impact on
the ICER are the cost of ultra-radical surgery, the utility associated
with progression-free survival, and the probability of death from
ultra-radical surgery. Conclusions Ultra-radical surgery is
cost-effective under NICE willingness-to-pay thresholds of £20000; the
costs of ultra-radical surgery are bound to decrease as centres
specialise further, and its effectiveness is also likely due to increase
with development of newer techniques and more surgical training.