Abstract
6606 Background: In thyroid cancer patients, follow-up is designed to detect recurrent disease and consists of neck- ultrasonography (US), thyroglobulin measurement (Tg) and radioiodine whole body scan (WBS). Recent guidelines have restricted the use of WBS to suspicious cases. To insure diagnostic accuracy, follow-up control requires TSH stimulation, either with thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW) or rhTSH, which have demonstrated similar diagnostic accuracy. THW induces significant morbidity associated with hypothyroidism, leading to a decrease in patient quality of life and ability to work, whereas rhTSH is an innovative costly drug that avoids such patient burden. A societal cost-utility analysis was conducted to compare 4 follow-up strategies, combining a method of stimulation (rhTSH or THW) and a testing protocol (US+Tg+WBS or US+Tg alone). Methods: A Markov model was built to describe the follow-up of thyroid cancer patients first treated by thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation, over 5 years. Estimates for diagnostic accuracy values and recurrence rate were extracted from a French multicenter randomized trial. Costs were computed from the perspective of the society, including medical resources consumed (hospitalisation, rhTSH, tests, treatment of recurrence). The model also incorporated the benefits of rhTSH in terms of quality of life (utility scores derived from SF36) and the reduction in duration and overall cost of sick leave. Results: Among the 753 patients included, 13 patients presented recurrence. rhTSH stimulation resulted in a higher utility score (0.802 vs. 0.637) over the period of stimulation and a reduction of 1083 € of absenteeism costs in active patients. As compared to the THW+Tg+US+WBS strategy, the incremental cost-utility ratios (ICER) showed economic dominance for the rhTSH strategies with ratios of −16,876 and −19,297 €/QALY with and without WBS respectively. The ICER for the strategy THW+US+Tg reached 29,333 €/QALY, as compared to THW+Tg+US+WBS strategy. Conclusions: the recommended strategy combining Tg determination and US after rhTSH stimulation appears the most cost-effective in the follow-up of thyroid cancer patients, as it is the strategy the less costly and associated with improved patient quality of life. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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