Department of Health Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Corinth, Greece.
Front Public Health. 2021 Mar 10;9:607761. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.607761. eCollection 2021.
A European Union (EU) member state, Cyprus is a country with a population of ~850,000 citizens. According to the Cyprus Ministry of Health, since 2009, more than 3,000 new incidents with neoplasm are diagnosed every year (i.e., 3% increasing rate). Projections estimate an average annual increase of 2.2% of new incidents until 2040. However, the National Health System (NHS) of Cyprus lacks a Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) care framework and infrastructure. Patients can only have a PET/CT exam in the private sector, either in Cyprus or a neighboring country (e.g., Greece or Israel). This requires the government of Cyprus to cover financial expenses related to medical treatments while the patients may also need to cover their expenses for traveling to a neighboring country. This study presents a cost analysis to examine whether the integration of a PET/CT with, or without, an F-FDG cyclotron unit in the NHS of Cyprus is an efficient investment that can be recovered within the unit's service life. To perform this study, we estimated necessary resources for purchasing and operating such unit for a period of 15 years. The results of this study indicate that an investment in a PET/CT unit is not financially viable. Alternatives, such as the reimbursement of PET/CT operated by the private sector is recommended.
塞浦路斯是欧盟成员国之一，拥有约 85 万公民。根据塞浦路斯卫生部的数据，自 2009 年以来，每年诊断出超过 3000 例新的肿瘤病例（即增长率为 3%）。预计到 2040 年，新发病例的年平均增长率将达到 2.2%。然而，塞浦路斯国家卫生系统（NHS）缺乏正电子发射断层扫描/计算机断层扫描（PET/CT）护理框架和基础设施。患者只能在私立部门进行 PET/CT 检查，无论是在塞浦路斯还是邻国（如希腊或以色列）。这要求塞浦路斯政府承担与治疗相关的财务费用，而患者可能还需要支付前往邻国的费用。本研究进行了成本分析，以检验在塞浦路斯 NHS 中整合或不整合 F-FDG 回旋加速器单元的 PET/CT 是否是一种可以在该单元使用寿命内收回成本的有效投资。为了进行这项研究，我们估计了在 15 年内购买和运营此类单元所需的资源。这项研究的结果表明，投资 PET/CT 单元在财务上不可行。建议采用替代方案，如报销私营部门运营的 PET/CT。
