Cost-effectiveness of transcatheter versus surgical aortic valve replacement in patients at lower surgical risk: results from the NOTION trial.

Aims: The aim of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) versus surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients at lower surgical risk.

Methods And Results: Discounted costs from a societal perspective and effectiveness as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were projected to lifetime via a decision-analytic model calibrated to 60-month data from the NOTION trial. The base case assumed a scenario in which any mortality benefit would gradually fade out over time, with other scenarios explored in sensitivity analyses.

Clinical and Economic Benefits of Upper Airway Stimulation for Obstructive Sleep Apnea in a European Setting.

Background: Upper airway stimulation (UAS) is a treatment approach for patients with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea who cannot adhere to continuous positive airway pressure therapy.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate added patient benefit and cost-effectiveness of UAS in the German health care system.

Methods: We used a decision-analytic Markov model to project major adverse cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events (myocardial infarction [MI] or stroke), motor vehicle collision (MVC), mortality, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and costs.

Insights from eight years of adoption experience of transcatheter mitral valve repair in Germany: observed utilisation patterns and impact on overall mitral valve procedure volumes.

Aims: The German healthcare system was among the first to introduce transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) into routine care. The objective of this study was to analyse adoption and utilisation patterns and to estimate the impact of TMVR availability on mitral valve (MV) procedure volumes in the first eight years after commercialisation.

Methods And Results: Procedure volumes were collected from German Federal Statistics Office databases for TMVR and mitral valve surgery (MVS) from 2008-2015.

Evolution of mitral valve procedural volumes in the advent of endovascular treatment options: Experience at an early-adopting center in Germany.

Objectives: Our objectives were to assess the evolution of surgical and endovascular mitral valve procedural volumes and to study utilization and reimbursement effects of transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) at our center and to put these in perspective with the corresponding data at the national level.

Background: TMVR using the MitraClip system has been available in Germany since 2008 as a complementary treatment option for high-risk or inoperable patients.

Methods: Relevant procedure codes were identified for 2006-2012 and yearly utilization volumes obtained from our center's databases and from the national statistics office.

Perinatal screening for group B streptococci: cost-benefit analysis of rapid polymerase chain reaction.

Objective: To evaluate the costs and benefits of a group B streptococci screening strategy using a new, rapid polymerase chain reaction test in a hypothetical cohort of expectant mothers in the United States.

Design: Cost-benefit analysis using the human capital method. We developed a decision model to analyze the costs and benefits of a hypothetical group B streptococci screening strategy using a new, rapid polymerase chain reaction test as compared with the currently recommended group B streptococci screening guidelines-prenatal culture performed at 35 to 37 weeks or risk-factor-based strategy with subsequent intrapartum treatment of the expectant mothers with antibiotics to prevent early-onset group B streptococcal infections in their infants.