A cost comparison of oral tegafur plus uracil/folinic acid and parenteral fluorouracil for colorectal cancer in Canada.

Background: Two randomised, controlled trials (n = 1396) comparing (i) intravenous fluorouracil (FU) plus oral folinic acid (leucovorin) and (ii) oral tegafur plus uracil (UFT) plus folinic acid for the treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma found both regimens to have equivalent efficacy in terms of survival, tumour response and time to disease progression. The UFT/folinic acid regimen was associated with a better toxicity profile than FU/folinic acid.

Objective: To determine the comparative frequencies and costs of healthcare resources utilised in the treatment of patients with these two regimens from a hospital and government perspective.

Patient characteristics and costs of severe sepsis and septic shock in Quebec.

Background: We investigated the cost of health care resources for the treatment of severe sepsis and/or septic shock patients.

Materials And Methods: One hundred retrospective chart abstractions from patients with severe sepsis or septic shock were included. The average cost, per episode, through day 28, as well as an analysis of a patient subset through 1 year was calculated.