Description
In order to determine whether switching to adjuvant exemestane is cost efficient, an accurate knowledge of the cost of treating a breast cancer relapse is required. We identified 232 patients relapsing between March 2000-05. Seventy seven of these were randomly selected for detailed analysis of their entire hospital and community management costs from the date of relapse until death, or the end of the evaluation period (01/01/07). The mean cost per patient was 25,186 (95% CI 13,705-33,821). The median survival from time of relapse was 40.07 months (range 0.5 73 months) and the more representative median total cost per patient was 31,402.62. The cost a a relapse equated to an extra cost (over tamoxifen alone) of 6766.40. This figure was higher than previous estimates, but was the first analysis to include the community costs (30%), and suggests it is a more efficient to prevent a relapse than to treat one.
