The cost-effectiveness of selective lymphadenectomy based on a preoperative prediction model in patients with endometrial cancer: insights from the US and Korean healthcare systems.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to determine the cost-effectiveness of selective lymphadenectomy using a preoperative prediction model compared to routine lymphadenectomy for patients undergoing surgery for endometrial cancer in the US and Korea.

METHODS

We used a modified Markov model to estimate clinical and economic outcomes for newly diagnosed, apparent early-stage endometrial cancer patients under two different strategies: (1) selective lymphadenectomy, where patients classified as low risk based on the preoperative prediction model did not undergo complete surgical staging, and (2) routine lymphadenectomy, where all patients underwent complete surgical staging. Published data were used to estimate the rates of adjuvant therapy and survival. Costs were calculated from the perspective of US or Korean payers. Cost-effectiveness ratios were analyzed separately using data from each country.

RESULTS

Base-case analysis indicated that selective lymphadenectomy was less costly ($6454 vs. $7079 in Korea; $23,995 vs. $26,318 in the US) and more effective (6.91 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) vs. 6.85 QALYs in Korea; 6.87 QALYs vs. 6.81 QALYs in the US) than routine lymphadenectomy in both countries. This result was robust in a deterministic sensitivity analysis, with the exception of when the utility scores for patients with lymphedema were varied. So long as a modest preference for avoiding lymphedema (disutility of 0.04) was obtained, selective lymphadenectomy remained the dominant strategy.

CONCLUSIONS

A selective lymphadenectomy strategy based on a preoperative prediction model was shown to be more cost-effective than routine lymphadenectomy for endometrial cancer patients in the US and Korea.