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. This 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.
