An economic analysis of low-energy contact x-ray brachytherapy for treatment of rectal cancer.

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

e15622 Background: Health Technology Wales sought to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of contact x-ray brachytherapy (CXB) in conjunction with external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT), compared to EBRT alone for early-stage (T2–3b, N0–1, M0) rectal cancer in a surgically fit population. Methods: An economic analysis was performed using a decision analytical, state transition model. Analysis was performed from a third-party payer perspective over a life-time horizon. The model was populated using data from the Organ Preservation in Early Rectal Adenocarcinoma (OPERA) trial. Results: . CXB was estimated to provide 0.2 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) per patient at an additional cost of $1118 per person. CXB was cost-effective compared with external beam boost at a cost of $5623 per QALY gained. These findings did not change in deterministic sensitivity analysis and CXB was cost-effective in over 90% of probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: CXB is likely to be cost-effective with a high degree of certainty in this patient population.