[Cost analysis of the diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue sarcomas in reference centres]

Abstract

Objective: To determine the diagnostic and treatment costs in patients referred to a reference centre with a suspected soft tissue sarcoma.

Material and methods: The study consisted of a historic cohort of 48 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with soft tissue sarcomas and treated in our centres between the years 2009 and 2011, both prior to and after performing the biopsy. The cost per procedure was taken from the official list of prices published in the year 2009. A comparative study of the data was performed using the Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests.

Results: The mean cost per patient was 14,427.58€. In those referred before the biopsy, the overall mean cost was 11,818.67€, and in those referred afterwards, it was 6,456.74€ (p=.0073). There were no significant differences in the diagnostic costs between the groups. However, the mean cosy of the treatment per patient was higher in the second group (p=.0121).

Discussion: The referral to centres with experienced multidisciplinary teams in this disease is a common fact highlighted in many articles, where the financial savings have also been demonstrated.

Conclusions: This study shows that, as well as improving the care aspect of the patients when they are referred to a specialist centre prior to the biopsy, there is also a lower health care cost.