Cancer patients' willingness to pay for blood transfusions at home: results from a contingent valuation study in a French cancer network.

Home blood transfusion may be an interesting alternative to hospital transfusion, especially when given with curative or palliative intent or for terminal care in advanced-stage cancer patients. However, there is limited information about patients' attitude toward this type of care. The purpose of this study was to measure French cancer patients' willingness to pay (WTP) for home blood transfusion and to analyze determinants of their choice.

[Economic assessment of pulsed dose-rate (PDR) brachytherapy with optimized dose distribution for cervix carcinoma].

Purpose: Our study aims at evaluating the cost of pulsed dose-rate (PDR) brachytherapy with optimized dose distribution versus traditional treatments (iridium wires, cesium, non-optimized PDR). Issues surrounding reimbursement were also explored.

Materials And Methods: This prospective, multicentre, non-randomised study conducted in the framework of a project entitled "Support Program for Costly Diagnostic and Therapeutic Innovations" involved 21 hospitals.

[Impact of FDG-PET on radiation therapy: economic results of a STIC study].

The aim of this study is to assess the effects of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) associated with computed tomography (CT) on resource allocation (costs and savings) of the following treatment in radiotherapy for non small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) and Hodgkin's diseases. A national prospective study was conducted in nine hospitals. Two treatment decisions made on the basis of CT only or on PET associated with, were compared in a before-after design.

[The cost of respiration-gated radiotherapy in the framework of a clinical research programme "STIC"].

Purpose: Our study aims to evaluate the impact of the implementation of respiratory gating (RG) on the production cost of radiotherapy, as compared to conformational radiotherapy without RG (comparator) in patients with lung or breast cancers. Issues surrounding reimbursement were also explored.

Materials And Methods: A prospective, multicenter, non-randomised study was conducted in the framework of a project entitled "Support Program for Costly Diagnostic and Therapeutic Innovations".

Analyzing multiple learning effects in health care using multilevel modeling: application to radiotherapy at an early stage of innovation.

Objectives: Learning effects may have considerable influence on the performance of new health technologies, thereby on cost-effectiveness and ultimately on resource allocation. In the area of radiotherapy, equipment is becoming increasingly costly and the analysis of learning effects is complex given that sequential treatments are necessary, with multiple sessions for each patient. Our study aimed at analyzing learning effects in radiotherapy at an early stage of innovation.

[Blood transfusions at home or in the hospital? The preferences of cancer patients].

Home blood transfusion (HBT) is as safe and effective as hospital transfusion. If HBT can potentially cause anxiety, it can also improve patients' quality of life. The different factors influencing patients' preference for home or hospital are examined on the basis of a prospective study including 139 patients from the comprehensive cancer center of Lyon, and who received transfusions in the hospital outpatient department or at home between 2003 and 2004.

Assessing short-term effects and costs at an early stage of innovation: the use of positron emission tomography on radiotherapy treatment decision making.

Objectives: Positron emission tomography (PET) is an innovative imaging tool. Associated with computed tomography (CT), it allows a better definition for the tumor volume for radiotherapy, compared with CT only. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of PET on resource allocation (costs and savings) and on the choice of the following treatment in radiotherapy.

[Image-guided radiotherapy].

Recent advances in radiation oncology are based on improvement in dose distribution thanks to IMRT and improvement in target definition through new diagnostic imaging such as spectroscopic or functional MRI or PET. However, anatomic variations may occur during treatment decreasing the benefit of such optimization. Image-guided radiotherapy reduces geometric uncertainties occurring during treatment and therefore should reduce dose delivered to healthy tissues and enable dose escalation to enhance tumour control.

Economic evaluation of antineoplasic chemotherapy administered at home or in hospitals.

Objectives: Comparative economic evaluations of chemotherapy administered in hospital day-care units or in the home are relatively scarce. Furthermore, most existing evaluations do not include methodologic studies. This study seeks to compare the costs of anticancer chemotherapy with hospital at-home care versus a hospital day-care unit in the Rhône-Alpes region of France.