The paper is about the study on efficiency and operation cost of 11 research oriented CT systems in Shanghai zone. The study result include the average volume, annual operation cost, cost per scan and break-even-point. It reveals that the research oriented CT system purchase price and operation cost is high. The suggestion is that the hospital should be cautious to select the research oriented CT system with consideration of clinical research demand to avoid unsuitable investment.
Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; economics

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of nodal staging surgery before chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for locally advanced cervical cancer in the era of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). METHODS: A modified Markov model was constructed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of para-aortic staging surgery before definite CRT when no uptake is recorded in the para-aortic lymph nodes (PALN) on PET/CT. Survival and complication rates were estimated based on the published literature. Cost data were obtained from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. Strategies were compared using an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Sensitivity analyses were performed, including estimates for the performance of PET/CT, postoperative complication rate, and varying survival rates according to the radiation field. RESULTS: We compared two strategies: strategy 1, pelvic CRT for all patients; and strategy 2, nodal staging surgery followed by extended-field CRT when PALN metastasis was found and pelvic CRT otherwise. The ICER for strategy 2 compared to strategy 1 was $19,505 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). Under deterministic sensitivity analyses, the model was relatively sensitive to survival reduction in patients who undergo pelvic CRT alone despite having occult PALN metastasis. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis demonstrated the robustness of the case results, with a 91% probability of cost-effectiveness at the willingness-to-pay thresholds of $60,000/QALY. CONCLUSION: Nodal staging surgery before definite CRT may be cost-effective when PET/CT imaging shows no evidence of PALN metastasis. Prospective trials are warranted to transfer these results to guidelines.
Chemoradiotherapy/*economics ; Combined Modality Therapy/economics ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Laparoscopy/economics ; Lymph Node Excision/*economics/methods ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Markov Chains ; Multimodal Imaging/economics ; Neoplasm Staging ; Positron-Emission Tomography/economics ; Quality of Life ; Quality-Adjusted Life Years ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/economics ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/*economics/therapy

PURPOSE: To investigate the usefulness of urine cytology in the detection of tumor recurrence in terms of practicality and cost-effectiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 393 patients who underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) from January 2010 to June 2013. All patients underwent cystoscopy, urine cytology, urinalysis, and computed tomography (CT) at 3 and 6 months after TURBT. In 62 cases, abnormal bladder lesions were identified on cystoscopy within 6 months. Suspicious lesions were confirmed pathologically by TURBT or biopsy. Patients were grouped by modalities: group I, urine cytology; group II, CT; group III, urinalysis; group IV, urine cytology plus CT; group V, urine cytology plus urinalysis; group VI, CT plus urinalysis; group VII, combination of all three modalities. Each group was compared by cost per cancer detected. RESULTS: Forty-nine patients were confirmed to have tumor recurrence and 13 patients were confirmed to have inflammation by pathology. The overall tumor recurrence rate was 12.5% (49/393) and recurrent cases were revealed as NMIBC. Sensitivity in group I (24.5%) was lower than in group II (55.1%, p=0.001) and group III (57.1%, p<0.001). However, in group VII (77.6%), the sensitivity was statistically similar to that of group VI (75.5%, p=0.872). Under the Korean insurance system, total cost per cancer detected for group VII was almost double that of group VI (p=0.041). CONCLUSIONS: Routine urine cytology may not be useful for follow-up of bladder cancer in terms of practicality and cost-effectiveness. Application of urine cytology needs to be adjusted according to each patient.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Cystoscopy/economics ; Cytodiagnosis/economics/methods ; Female ; Health Care Costs/*statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/*diagnosis/economics/pathology ; Neoplasm Staging ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/economics ; Urinalysis/economics/methods ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms/*diagnosis/economics/pathology/surgery ; Urine/*cytology

BACKGROUNDIntravenous urography (IVU) combined with add-on CT (IVU-CT) can help to provide more diagnostic information for determining the localization and nature of ureteral abnormalities with less irradiation dose. This study aimed to determine the value of IVU-CT for diagnosis of ureteral diseases, where IVU is insufficient to determine the diagnosis.

METHODSTwo hundred and eighty patients underwent IVU for suspected ureteral disorders, which identified a definite diagnosis in 184 cases and was insufficient for definite diagnosis in 96 cases designated as indeterminate diagnosis. Subsequently 90 patients (six patients declined CT) with indeterminate diagnosis consented to undergo immediate or delayed helical CT scan. The CT data were transferred to the workstation for post-processing, and the cost and mean effective dose for each imaging method were calculated and compared indirectly.

RESULTSOf the 90 indeterminate diagnosis cases, diagnosis was determined in 86 cases by IVU-CT with a diagnostic accordance rate of 95.6%, while 184/280 (65.7%) had diagnosis determined by IVU alone. There was a significant difference between IVU and IVU-CT in the determination of the diagnosis of ureteral diseases (c(2) = 36.4, P < 0.05). The cost of IVU equals to 1/8 - 1/9 of that for CT urography (CTU), and the cost of IVU-CT is as much as 1/3 of CTU. CTU results in the highest mean effective dose, approximately nine times that for IVU and three times that for IVU-CT.

CONCLUSIONIVU-CT provides valuable information for the localization and diagnosis of ureteral abnormalities and may be considered as an efficient, cost-effective and low-dose diagnostic technique in this setting.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; economics ; methods ; Ureter ; diagnostic imaging ; Ureteral Diseases ; diagnosis ; Urography ; economics ; methods ; Young Adult