OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study is to estimate the cost of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and management in the Philippines. Specifically, it aims to identify the resource requirements and interventions related to breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and management, measure resource volumes (number of units), learn to value resource items (unit costs), and determine the total cost of treatment per disease stage.

The study covered nine tertiary hospitals, seven of which were government hospitals and two were private hospitals, with all tertiary hospitals providing breast cancer services and accredited by Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC or PhilHealth) for the Z-Benefit Package. Interventions and services related to breast cancer included radiographic procedures, laboratory and imaging tests, chemotherapy drugs and medications, medical and surgical supplies, surgical rates (for breast surgery), accommodation, staff time and salary/professional fees, and other procedure fees. The study conducted in 2022, examined cost prices of breast cancer interventions and services from stage 1–3B.

Purposive and convenience sampling were used based on PhilHealth accreditation and willingness of hospitals to participate in the study. The study conducted a focus group discussion with oncologists, radiologists, anesthesiologists, and other health care providers to validate the clinical guideline used and to solicit inputs to the costing design, analysis framework, and tools for data collection. Data collection of financial cost information (charge price) was conducted using a set of costing matrices filled out by the various departments of the hospitals. Costs and median rates were calculated across hospitals on diagnostics and imaging tests, surgery costs of both public and private facilities, medical treatment, and radiotherapy.

Breast MRI, Breast Panel, and Chest CT Scan are the top 3 most expensive diagnostic procedures ranging from PhP 8,102.00 to PhP 9,800.00 per procedure. Surgical procedures for breast cancer at private hospitals and public hospitals showed huge differences in costs. The cost of a cycle of chemotherapy ranges from PhP 596.70 to PhP 3,700.00 per session, while the cost of targeted therapy can cost up to PhP 46,394.21 per session. A year of hormone therapy ranges from PhP 3,276.00 with the use of Tamoxifen, and up to PhP 68,284.00 with Goserelin. Aromatase inhibitors such as Anastrozole and Letrozole cost from PhP 18,000 to PhP 36,000, respectively. Multiple cycles depending on the diagnosis are prescribed per patient and used in combination with other chemotherapy medications or other therapies such as targeted therapy and hormone therapy are usually taken daily up to 5 to 10 years. Conventional radiotherapy can cost up to PhP 88,150.00 covering 28 sessions, CT simulation, and CT planning.

This cost study provides relevant information and better perspective on benefit development for the PHIC, policy development for Department of Health on where and how to focus their support for the patient’s financial preparedness to address medical and f inancial catastrophes.

PhilHealth needs to guide the health care providers of their costing method and to develop their own integrated, interoperable, and comprehensive cost data library.

It recommends that the government allocate budget and cover for screening and assessment for earlier stage diagnosis of patients and lower health expenditure costs on cancer treatment.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study is to estimate the cost of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and management in the Philippines. Specifically, it aims to identify the resource requirements and interventions related to breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and management, measure resource volumes (number of units), learn to value resource items (unit costs), and determine the total cost of treatment per disease stage.

The study covered nine tertiary hospitals, seven of which were government hospitals and two were private hospitals, with all tertiary hospitals providing breast cancer services and accredited by Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC or PhilHealth) for the Z-Benefit Package. Interventions and services related to breast cancer included radiographic procedures, laboratory and imaging tests, chemotherapy drugs and medications, medical and surgical supplies, surgical rates (for breast surgery), accommodation, staff time and salary/professional fees, and other procedure fees. The study conducted in 2022, examined cost prices of breast cancer interventions and services from stage 1–3B.

Purposive and convenience sampling were used based on PhilHealth accreditation and willingness of hospitals to participate in the study. The study conducted a focus group discussion with oncologists, radiologists, anesthesiologists, and other health care providers to validate the clinical guideline used and to solicit inputs to the costing design, analysis framework, and tools for data collection. Data collection of financial cost information (charge price) was conducted using a set of costing matrices filled out by the various departments of the hospitals. Costs and median rates were calculated across hospitals on diagnostics and imaging tests, surgery costs of both public and private facilities, medical treatment, and radiotherapy.

Breast MRI, Breast Panel, and Chest CT Scan are the top 3 most expensive diagnostic procedures ranging from PhP 8,102.00 to PhP 9,800.00 per procedure. Surgical procedures for breast cancer at private hospitals and public hospitals showed huge differences in costs. The cost of a cycle of chemotherapy ranges from PhP 596.70 to PhP 3,700.00 per session, while the cost of targeted therapy can cost up to PhP 46,394.21 per session. A year of hormone therapy ranges from PhP 3,276.00 with the use of Tamoxifen, and up to PhP 68,284.00 with Goserelin. Aromatase inhibitors such as Anastrozole and Letrozole cost from PhP 18,000 to PhP 36,000, respectively. Multiple cycles depending on the diagnosis are prescribed per patient and used in combination with other chemotherapy medications or other therapies such as targeted therapy and hormone therapy are usually taken daily up to 5 to 10 years. Conventional radiotherapy can cost up to PhP 88,150.00 covering 28 sessions, CT simulation, and CT planning.

This cost study provides relevant information and better perspective on benefit development for the PHIC, policy development for Department of Health on where and how to focus their support for the patient’s financial preparedness to address medical and f inancial catastrophes.

PhilHealth needs to guide the health care providers of their costing method and to develop their own integrated, interoperable, and comprehensive cost data library.

It recommends that the government allocate budget and cover for screening and assessment for earlier stage diagnosis of patients and lower health expenditure costs on cancer treatment.

Background: The effect of treatment delays on the quality of life of breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy remains to be seen, especially from quarantine measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of breast cancer patients referred for radiotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: This cross-sectional analysis included histopathologically proven breast cancer patients referred for radiotherapy at the Philippine General Hospital from June to October 2020. The University of the Philippines-Department of Health Quality of Life Scale for Cancer Patients was used to assess the HR-QOL of the respondents across five domains. Results: A total of 60 respondents (median age of 52, range 33-71) were surveyed and eligible for analysis. College degree holders and good performers were associated with higher HR-QOL scores (p=0.008). The median interval from diagnosis to survey was 10.7 (SD±6.18) months and a longer illness duration was detrimental to HR-QOL. Overall, the global HR-QOL score was high (80.0% of respondents, HR-QOL score of 5.38±0.46). This was observed in all, except for the cognitive domain where HR-QOL was moderate among respondents (4.24±0.76). Conclusion This assessment was conducted within seven months into the pandemic, when an overall high HR-QOL score was observed among breast cancer patients. With further restrictions in treatment census encountered during the pandemic, strategies are recommended to address these indicators of health related QOL in this patient population through equitable and prompt access to needed care, such as radiotherapy.
Breast Neoplasms ; COVID-19 ; Quality of Life ; Radiotherapy

To study an automatic plan(AP) method for radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery based on TiGRT system and and compare with manual plan (MP). The dosimetry parameters of 10 patients and the evaluation of scoring table were analyzed, it was found that the targets dose of AP were better than that of MP, but there was no statistical difference except for CI, The V5, V20 and V30 of affected lungs and whole lungs in AP were lower than all that in MP, the Dmean of hearts was slightly higher than that of MP, but the difference was not statistically significant, the MU of AP was increase by 16.1% compared with MP, the score of AP evaluation was increase by 6.1% compared with MP. So the AP could be programmed and automated while ensuring the quality of the plan, and can be used to design the plans for radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery.
Breast Neoplasms/surgery* ; Female ; Humans ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Organs at Risk ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted ; Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated

PURPOSE: Watson for Oncology (WFO) is a computing system for considering treatment option with patients. The aim of this study is to determine the concordance rate of WFO and tumor board in treatment options of breast cancer.METHODS: One hundred and seventy breast cancer patients who were treated at Gachon University Gil Medical Center (GMC) from December 2016 to March 2018 were investigated. “Concordance” is defined that treatment provided by GMC tumor board and WFO-provided treatments (Recommend or For Consideration) were coincide. “Discordance” is defined that treatment provided by GMC tumor board and WFO-provided treatments (Not Recommended or Not Available) were coincide.RESULTS: In chemotherapy, of the total 170 patients, 23 patients were excluded, and the concordance rate was compared in 147 patients. Concordance rate was 93% (136/147). In the 11 patients who were discordant, seven patients complied with the treatment proposed by GMC tumor board due to insurance problems and age, and two patients did not follow the treatment proposed by WFO due to pregnancy and patient's choice, and one patient chose a treatment determined by WFO, last one patient was not treated with chemotherapy because it was not considered to be clinically necessary. In radiotherapy, the overall agreement rate was as high as 99% (147/148).CONCLUSION: Through this study, we found that many of the treatment proposals provided by WFO are highly reliable. Although the overall agreement is high in the radiotherapy regimen, the indication for radiotherapy by WFO is more aggressive and hypofractionated high dose intensity radiotherapy is growing trend by WFO.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Insurance ; Pregnancy ; Radiotherapy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk of central nervous system (CNS) failure in Korean patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-enriched breast cancer treated with surgery followed by postoperative radiotherapy (RT). METHODS: A total of 749 patients from eight institutions were enrolled in this study. All of them underwent surgery followed by postoperative RT from 2003 to 2011; 246 (32.8%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and 649 (81.7%) received adjuvant chemotherapy. Adjuvant trastuzumab was administered to 386 patients (48.6%). RESULTS: The median follow-up duration was 84 (range, 8–171) months. The 7-year disease-free and overall survival rates were 79.0% and 84.2%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, mastectomy, nodal involvement, and presence of lymphatic invasion were correlated with poor overall survival (p = 0.004, 0.022, and 0.011, respectively), whereas T stage and lymphatic invasion were associated with disease-free survival (p = 0.018 and 0.005, respectively). Regarding CNS failures, 30 brain metastases, 2 leptomeningeal metastases, and 8 brain and leptomeningeal metastases were noted. The 7-year CNS relapse-free survival rates in patients receiving and not receiving trastuzumab were 91.2% and 96.9%, respectively (p = 0.005). On multivariate analysis, the administration of adjuvant trastuzumab was the only prognostic factor in predicting a higher CNS failure rate (hazard ratio, 2.260; 95% confidence interval, 1.076–4.746; p = 0.031). CONCLUSION: Adjuvant trastuzumab was associated with higher CNS failure rate in Korean patients with HER2-enriched breast cancer. Close monitoring and reasonable approaches such as CNS penetrating HER2 blockades combined with the current standard therapy could contribute to improving intracranial tumor control and quality of life in patients with CNS metastasis from HER2-enriched breast cancer.
Brain ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Central Nervous System Neoplasms ; Central Nervous System ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mastectomy ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Quality of Life ; Radiation Oncology ; Radiotherapy ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Trastuzumab

PURPOSE: The use of immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) has been debated because it may be a causative factor in adjuvant treatment delay and may subsequently increase the probability of recurrence. We investigated whether IBR was related to adjuvant treatment delay and survival outcomes. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the duration from operation to adjuvant treatment administration and survival outcomes according to IBR status among patients with breast cancer who underwent mastectomy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy from January 2005 to December 2014. Propensity score matching was performed to balance the clinicopathologic baseline characteristics between patients who did and did not undergo IBR. RESULTS: Of 646 patients, 107 (16.6%) underwent IBR, and the median follow-up was 72 months. The median duration from surgery to adjuvant chemotherapy was significantly longer in patients who underwent IBR than in those who did not (14 vs. 12 days, respectively, p = 0.008). Based on propensity score matching, patients who underwent IBR received adjuvant therapy 3 days later than those who did not (14 vs. 11 days, respectively, p = 0.044). The duration from surgery to post-mastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) did not significantly differ between the 2 groups. Local recurrence-free survival, regional recurrence-free survival, systemic recurrence-free survival, and overall survival were also not significantly different between the 2 groups (p = 0.427, p = 0.445, p = 0.269, and p = 0.250, respectively). In the case-matched cohort, survival outcomes did not change. CONCLUSION: IBR was associated with a modest increase in the duration from surgery to chemotherapy that was statistically but not clinically significant. Moreover, IBR had no influence on PMRT delay or survival outcomes, suggesting that it is an acceptable option for patients with non-metastatic breast cancer undergoing mastectomy.
Breast Implants ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cohort Studies ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mammaplasty ; Mastectomy ; Propensity Score ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The benefit of post-mastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) in patients with breast cancer who achieve ypN0 following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has not yet been established. This study aimed to identify the role of PMRT in patients who achieve ypN0 according to molecular subtype. METHODS: We identified patients initially suspected with axillary disease who achieved ypN0 following NAC. From 13 institutions of the Korean Radiation Oncology Group between 2005 and 2011, a total of 189 patients were included in the analysis. Effects of PMRT on loco-regional control (LRC), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated for different molecular subtypes. RESULTS: In all patients, the prognostic effect of PMRT on LRC, DFS, or OS was not significant. Subgroups analysis showed that the effect of PMRT on LRC was different according to molecular subtype (p for interaction = 0.019). PMRT was associated with greater LRC in the luminal subtype (p = 0.046), but not in other subtypes. CONCLUSION: In patients who achieve ypN0 following NAC and mastectomy, PMRT shows no additional survival benefits for any molecular subtype.
Breast Neoplasms ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Mastectomy ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Phenobarbital ; Radiation Oncology ; Radiotherapy

PURPOSE: In some patients who receive adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) for the left breast, the stomach is located inside the RT field. This study investigates the incidence of gastric complications following adjuvant RT for breast cancer using data of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in South Korea. METHODS: We identified 37,966 women who underwent surgery and received adjuvant RT for breast cancer. The cumulative incidence rate of gastric hemorrhage and gastric cancer was calculated and compared for left and right breast cancers. RESULTS: Among 37,966 patients, 19,531 (51.4%) and 18,435 (48.6%) had right and left breast cancers, respectively. After a median follow-up duration of 6.3 years, the cumulative incidence of gastric cancer and gastric hemorrhage did not differ between right and left breast cancers (p = 0.414 and p = 0.166, respectively). The multivariable analysis revealed that old age was the only factor associated with the development of gastric cancer (p < 0.001) and gastric hemorrhage (p < 0.001). The incidence of gastric cancer and hemorrhage did not differ between patients who received adjuvant RT for right and left breast cancers. CONCLUSION: Irradiation-related chronic complications of the stomach in patients with breast cancer are minimal. A study with a longer follow-up duration might be needed to assess the risk of gastric cancer.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Radiotherapy ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the non-inferiority of omitting radiotherapy (RT) after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for hormone receptor (HR)‒positive T1N0 breast cancer in elderly women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2004 to 2014, HR-positive T1N0 breast cancer patients aged 50 years or older and receiving BCS were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End RESULTS: 18 database. After propensity score matching between the no-RT and RT groups, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Identified prognostic factors were used to stratify the risk groups. In each risk group, 10-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates were compared between the no-RT and RT groups. RESULTS: After propensity score matching, the numbers of patients in the no-RT and RT groups were both 18,586. For patients who satisfied both a tumor size of 1-10 mm and a tumor grade of 1-2, omitting RT did not decrease the CSS rate at any age group, ranging from ≥ 50 to ≥ 85 years; for patients aged ≥ 50 years, the 10-year CSS rates in the no-RT and RT groups were 97.2% and 96.8%, respectively (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.862; p=0.312). However, for patients with a tumor size of 11-20 mm or tumor grade of 3-4, RT significantly increased the CSS rate irrespective of age. CONCLUSION: RT after BCS for HR-positive T1N0 breast cancer in elderly women might be omitted without causing a decrease in the CSS rate, but only in patients who satisfy both a small tumor size (≤ 10 mm) and low tumor grade (1-2).
Aged ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Multivariate Analysis ; Propensity Score* ; Radiotherapy ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant* ; Receptors, Estrogen ; Receptors, Progesterone