Prostate Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Prostate Cancer, including details on symptoms, genetics, screening, treatment, information. | ||||||||
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Economic analysis of a phase III clinical trial evaluating the addition of total androgen suppression to radiation versus radiation alone for locally advanced prostate cancer (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group protocol 86-10).Konski A, Sherman E, Krahn M, Bremner K, Beck JR, Watkins-Bruner D, Pilepich M Department of Radiation Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA. a_konski@fccc.edu PURPOSE: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of adding hormone therapy to radiation for patients with locally advanced prostate cancer, using a Monte Carlo simulation of a Markov Model. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) protocol 86-10 randomized patients to receive radiation therapy (RT) alone or RT plus total androgen suppression (RTHormones) 2 months before and during RT for the treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer. A Markov model was designed with Data Pro (TreeAge Software, Williamstown, MA). The analysis took a payer's perspective. Transition probabilities from one state of health (i.e., with no disease progression or with hormone-responsive metastatic disease) to another were calculated from published rates pertaining to RTOG 86-10. Patients remained in one state of health for 1 year. Utility values for each health state and treatment were obtained from the literature. Distributions were sampled at random from the treatment utilities according to a second-order Monte Carlo simulation technique. RESULTS: The mean expected cost for the RT-only treatments was 29,240 dollars (range, 29,138-29,403 dollars). The mean effectiveness for the RT-only treatment was 5.48 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) (range, 5.47-5.50). The mean expected cost for RTHormones was 31,286 dollars (range, 31,058-31,555 dollars). The mean effectiveness was 6.43 QALYs (range, 6.42-6.44). Incremental cost-effectiveness analysis showed RTHormones to be within the range of cost-effectiveness at 2,153 dollars/QALY. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curve analysis resulted in a >80% probability that RTHormones is cost-effective. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis shows that adding hormonal treatment to RT improves health outcomes at a cost that is within the acceptable cost-effectiveness range. Published 3 October 2005 in Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 63(3): 788-94.
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