Barrett esophagus; cost-effectiveness; economic evaluations; high-grade dysplasia; low-grade dysplasia
Purpose: Clinical guidelines recommend radiofre-quency ablation (RFA) for eradication of Barrett esophagus in patients with low-grade dysplasia (LGD) and high-grade dysplasia (HGD), but evidence on whether RFA provides good value for money is still sparse. This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of RFA in Italy. Methods: A Markov model was used to estimate lifelong costs and consequences of disease progression with different treatments. RFA was compared with esophagectomy in the HGD group or endoscopic surveillance in the LGD group. Clinical and quality-of-life parameters were derived from a review of the literature and expert opinions, whereas Italian national tariffs were used as a proxy for costs. Findings: RFA dominated esophagectomy in pa-tients with HGD with a probability of 83%. For patients with LGD, RFA was more effective and more costly than active surveillance (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, euro6276 per quality-adjusted life-year). At a cost-effectiveness threshold of euro15,272, the probability of RFA being the optimal strategy in this population was close to 100%. Model results were sensitive to the cost of the interventions and utility weights used in the different disease states. Implications: RFA is likely to be the optimal choice for patients with LGD and HGD in Italy. Italy is discussing the implementation of a national program for the health technology assessment of medical devices, requiring more studies to prove value for money of emerging technologies. (Clin Ther. 2023;45:426-436.) & COPY; 2023 Elsevier Inc.
Barrett esophagus; cost-effectiveness; economic evaluations; high-grade dysplasia; low-grade dysplasia
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