Power-assisted Liposuction for Lymphedema : A Cost-utility Analysis
(2022) In Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open 10(11).- Abstract
UNLABELLED: Lymphedema is a chronic, debilitating disease that has been described as the largest breast cancer survivorship burden. Debulking surgery has been shown to improve extremity volume, improve patient quality of life, and decrease the incidence of cellulitis in the literature. This procedure is routinely covered in numerous other developed countries, yet it is still inconsistently covered in the United States.
METHODS: Extremity volumes from all patients who underwent debulking surgery of the upper extremity at two institutions between December 2017 and January 2020 with at least 12 months follow-up were included. Procedural costs were calculated using Medicare reimbursement data. Average utility scores were obtained for... (More)
UNLABELLED: Lymphedema is a chronic, debilitating disease that has been described as the largest breast cancer survivorship burden. Debulking surgery has been shown to improve extremity volume, improve patient quality of life, and decrease the incidence of cellulitis in the literature. This procedure is routinely covered in numerous other developed countries, yet it is still inconsistently covered in the United States.
METHODS: Extremity volumes from all patients who underwent debulking surgery of the upper extremity at two institutions between December 2017 and January 2020 with at least 12 months follow-up were included. Procedural costs were calculated using Medicare reimbursement data. Average utility scores were obtained for each health state using a visual analog scale, then converted to quality-adjusted life years. A decision tree was generated, and incremental cost-utility ratios were calculated. Sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate our findings.
RESULTS: Debulking surgery is associated with a higher clinical effectiveness (quality-adjusted life year) of 27.05 compared to conservative management (23.34), with a relative cost reduction of $74,487. Rollback analysis favored debulking surgery as the cost-effective option compared to conservative management. The resulting negative incremental cost-utility ratio of -20,115.07 favored debulking surgery and indicated a dominant strategy.
CONCLUSION: Our study supports the use of debulking surgery for the treatment of chronic lymphedema of the upper extremity.
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- author
- Bloom, Joshua A ; Granoff, Melisa ; Karlsson, Tobias LU ; Greene, Arin K ; Brorson, Håkan LU ; Chatterjee, Abhishek and Singhal, Dhruv
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open
- volume
- 10
- issue
- 11
- article number
- E4671
- publisher
- Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85149675443
- pmid:36415620
- ISSN
- 2169-7574
- DOI
- 10.1097/GOX.0000000000004671
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7919fa8b-bb3a-4d0a-b1e4-86559aa784b0
- alternative location
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9674478/pdf/gox-10-e4671.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2023-02-03 15:41:07
- date last changed
- 2024-09-05 21:59:38
@article{7919fa8b-bb3a-4d0a-b1e4-86559aa784b0, abstract = {{<p>UNLABELLED: Lymphedema is a chronic, debilitating disease that has been described as the largest breast cancer survivorship burden. Debulking surgery has been shown to improve extremity volume, improve patient quality of life, and decrease the incidence of cellulitis in the literature. This procedure is routinely covered in numerous other developed countries, yet it is still inconsistently covered in the United States.</p><p>METHODS: Extremity volumes from all patients who underwent debulking surgery of the upper extremity at two institutions between December 2017 and January 2020 with at least 12 months follow-up were included. Procedural costs were calculated using Medicare reimbursement data. Average utility scores were obtained for each health state using a visual analog scale, then converted to quality-adjusted life years. A decision tree was generated, and incremental cost-utility ratios were calculated. Sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate our findings.</p><p>RESULTS: Debulking surgery is associated with a higher clinical effectiveness (quality-adjusted life year) of 27.05 compared to conservative management (23.34), with a relative cost reduction of $74,487. Rollback analysis favored debulking surgery as the cost-effective option compared to conservative management. The resulting negative incremental cost-utility ratio of -20,115.07 favored debulking surgery and indicated a dominant strategy.</p><p>CONCLUSION: Our study supports the use of debulking surgery for the treatment of chronic lymphedema of the upper extremity.</p>}}, author = {{Bloom, Joshua A and Granoff, Melisa and Karlsson, Tobias and Greene, Arin K and Brorson, Håkan and Chatterjee, Abhishek and Singhal, Dhruv}}, issn = {{2169-7574}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{11}}, publisher = {{Lippincott Williams & Wilkins}}, series = {{Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open}}, title = {{Power-assisted Liposuction for Lymphedema : A Cost-utility Analysis}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000004671}}, doi = {{10.1097/GOX.0000000000004671}}, volume = {{10}}, year = {{2022}}, }