118 A Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Two Treatment Strategies for Trigeminal Neuralgia in Ontario

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Trigeminal neuralgia is a debilitating disease affecting 4-27/100000 people annually. In Ontario, over 2000 patients will be cared for through a universal government payer model. Interventions for profound pain include medical and surgical therapies, among other options. The global expected cost of these approaches is unknown. METHODS: Costs were gathered from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary, and Ontario Ministry of Health Schedule of Benefits for Physician Services Under the Health Acct. Academic literature was used to estimate unavailable items. A cost-benefit Markov model was created for each strategy with literature-based event rates for annual cycles from year one to five, followed by a linear recurrent cycle from year six to ten. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated based on incremental cost in $CAD in 2022 per patient with a pain free year. RESULTS: Base case cost per patient was $10866 at ten years in the “MVD first” group and $10710 in the “carbamazepine first” group. The break-even point is slightly longer than ten years. Surgical cost is significantly higher at year one, at $9733 versus $1903. Ten year ICER was $1014 for “MVD first,” with strict superiority beyond this time point. One way deterministic sensitivity analysis for multiple factors suggested the highest cost variability and ICER variability was due to surgery cost, medication failure rate, and medication cost. CONCLUSIONS: Economic beneift is established to a “MVD first” strategy in the Ontario context with strict superiority beyond the ten-year horizon. If an arbitrary ICER of $50000 is used, benefit is established at four years. MVD could be considered broadly as a cost-effective and cost-saving measure in patients expected to live beyond these horizons.