Costs of standard and conformal photon radiotherapy in Austria.

BACKGROUND: The increasing shortage of health care resources necessitates a more rational use of the funds available. New treatment strategies in radiotherapy generate additional expenses. In this study, the expenses incurred for standard radiotherapy in patients with prostate and lung cancer were compared with those for conformal photon therapy.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: To itemize the direct costs, a distinction was made between pretreatment measures (independent of the tumor entity) and treatment measures proper. The cost analysis was based on a break-down by personnel, material and equipment depreciation costs. Overheads were not considered.
RESULTS: Conformal photon therapy was found to be over 60% more expensive than standard radiotherapy for prostate cancer and over 100% for lung cancer. The additional expenses were attributable to the more expensive linear accelerator equipment and the additional time needed for CT localization and planning as well as for patient positioning and verification during daily therapy.
CONCLUSION: Conformal photon therapy should be examined for its clinical usefulness in dedicated studies and allocated an adequate place in the reimbursement schemes for radiotherapy. If it should be found to produce higher cure rates, other costing procedures, e.g. cost--benefit analyses, should be used for establishing the costs of treatment strategies.