Download Comparing the Costs of Treating Prostate Cancer: Are There Significant Differences?

Comparing the Costs of Treating Prostate Cancer:
Are There Significant Differences?
Volume 13, Number 4 / January 30, 2002
The manuscript,
“Comparing the Costs of
Radiation Therapy and
Radical Prostatectomy for
the Initial Treatment of
Early-Stage Prostate
Cancer” appeared in the
Journal of Clinical
Oncology. The authors of
the article are Lister Hill
Scholar Jeffrey
Burkhardt, PhD (UABHealth Services
Administration), Mark S.
Litwin, MD, MPH
(University of CaliforniaLos Angeles) Christopher
M. Rose, MD (Providence
St. Joseph Medical
Center), Roy J. Correa,
MD (Virginia Mason
Medical Center),
Jonathon H. Sunshine,
MD (American College of
Radiology), Christopher
Hogan, PhD (Direct
Research, LLC) and
James A. Hayman, MD
(University of Michigan).
Dr. Burkhardt can be
reached at (205)934-1670
or [email protected] .
"Yes," says Lister Hill Scholar Jeffrey Burkhardt and his colleagues. “Our results
suggest that there are significant differences in the cost of early-stage treatment options for
prostate cancer. To date, most studies have focused primarily on efficacy, health-related
quality of life, or the cost of treating patients without regard to the type of treatment. Very
few studies have examined the difference in cost between treatment strategies.”
With prostate cancer the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the
United States and the lack of a clinical consensus in favor of one treatment, cost factors are
becoming an increasingly important issue in treatment decisions. Although the use of other
treatments is growing, radical prostatectomy and external-beam radiation therapy remain
the most common treatments for early-stage prostate cancer. “Any difference in cost
between these options can be a significant factor,” says Burkhardt.
To examine differences in cost, the researchers compared direct medical costs for
the initial treatment period, defined as one calendar month before diagnosis to nine
calendar months after diagnosis. The study population for the analysis included men age
65 or older, diagnosed with prostate cancer during 1992 and 1993, and receiving primary
treatment with either external-beam radiation therapy or radical prostatectomy.
The study found that the initial treatment costs were at least 23% greater for radical
prostatectomy than for external-beam radiation. The average costs totaled $17,226 for
radical prostatectomy compared to $14,048 for radiation therapy.
“Because prostate cancer affects thousands of men per year, the costs associated
with its treatment are of particular interest to policy makers and healthcare payers.
Although issues other than cost are probably of more importance to individual patients,
these results, indicating that radiation therapy is less expensive initially, remain important.
Future research efforts should focus on costs beyond the initial treatment period, as well as
changes in the management of early-stage prostate cancer over time.”
Journal of Clinical Oncology, June 2002, pp. 2869-2875.