More money, better outcomes don't equate in cancer treatment

Spending more means better quality, right? Frankly, no, according to a new study analyzing the costs of cancer care and related outcomes.

Researchers with the Department of Radiation Oncology of UZ Brussel in Belgium analyzed the hospital bills of 637 patients through the various selected cancer treatments and then followed up with them after five years. The items analyzed for price included consultation, surgery, hospitalization, radiology, anatomopathology, clinical biology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine.

Results included:

• The cost of pharmaceuticals and their administration made up for 49.7 percent of the total cost of all items.
• Surgery accounted for 4.9 percent of the total.
• Radiotherapy was measured at 9.7 percent.
• Radiology, anatomopathology, clinical biology and nuclear medicine added up to 17 percent.

“Cost effectiveness in cancer care is inversely proportional to outcome,” concluded lead author Guy Storme and colleagues. “The only proofs of the bonus of ‘precision or targeted’ medicine are randomized trials and the SHIVA trial. We see treating patients according to their identified mutations versus selected treatment by the physician showed no difference in progression-free survival.” 

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