Ronald M. Benoit

Cost Comparison Between Watchful Waiting With Active Surveillance and Active Treatment of Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer

OBJECTIVES In part because of concern regarding overtreatment in men with prostate cancer, watchful waiting with active surveillance (WWAS) has been increasingly used in men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer. The present study investigates the difference in costs between men with low-risk prostate cancer treated with up-front radical prostatectomy (RP) versus WWAS. METHODS A cost model was constructed using data from centers that have published their results in men who were followed up with WWAS compared with the actual costs of up-front RP calculated from a high volume center. Two WWAS arms of 15-year duration were created in which the follow-up protocol and conversion rate to active treatment were varied. RESULTS The cost of up-front RP including costs of surgery, complications, and follow up for 15 years was

Correlation between risk factors for vascular disease and the American Urological Association Symptom Score

15 235 per person. Costs of WWAS were estimated using annual conversion rates from WWAS to RP of both 5% and 7%. Costs per person in the WWAS arms ranged from

Planning based on postneedle volume with early dosimetric assessment is beneficial for Cesium-131 permanent prostate seed implantation

6558 to

THE SOCIOECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF PROSTATE-SPECIFIC ANTIGEN SCREENING

11 992 in the scenarios created which represent a 43%-78.7% reduction in costs when compared with men undergoing up-front RP. CONCLUSIONS Watchful waiting with active surveillance is being increasingly used in hopes of decreasing the potential overtreatment of prostate cancer in men with low-risk disease. The present study suggests that WWAS is likely to markedly decrease costs when compared with active treatment with RP.

THE EFFECT OF DYSFUNCTIONAL VOIDING ON THE COSTS OF TREATING VESICOURETERAL REFLUX: A COMPUTER MODEL

To evaluate the correlation between risk factors for vascular disease and the American Urological Association Symptom Score (AUA‐SS), by comparing the presence of these risk factors with the degree of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

Detection of latent prostate cancer from routine screening: Comparison with breast cancer screening

PURPOSE This study reports on prostate edema after prostate brachytherapy using Cesium-131 ((131)Cs) and describes our method to compensate. METHODS AND MATERIALS Thirty-one patients underwent brachytherapy using an afterloading technique. Volume measurements of the prostate were taken at various time intervals relative to the date of implant. Real-time operating room dosimetry was used for seed placement on the postneedle prostate volume. The prostate volumes at the various time points were used to determine the effect of prostate edema on dosimetry. RESULTS Increase in prostate volume occurred immediately after needle placement, as measured by both ultrasound (mean increase of 17.7% (0-75.0%) from 36.8 to 46.9 cc) and Day 0 CT (mean increase of 15.3% (0-54.8%) to 45.9 cc). Day 0 assessment of dosimetry revealed a median D(90) of 102.7% (86.7-133.4%), median V(100) of 91.8% (75.9-98.4%), median V(150) of 44.4% (23.8-81.3%), and median V(200) of 16.3% (7.8-36.9%). This edema dissipated over the next 4 weeks, with resultant changes in dosimetric parameters. By 4 weeks, prostate volume had returned to the preimplant volume (37.7 cc) with increased D(90) (118.2%), V(100) (95.6%), V(150) (63.9%), and V(200) (28.4%). CONCLUSIONS There is significant immediate edema with prostate brachytherapy. This affects the dosimetry of the implant substantially. Because of this edema, our planning for brachytherapy is done on the postneedle implant volume. Quality assurance studies should be done on the same day as the implant to avoid substantial overestimation of dosimetric parameters.

Overcoming pubic arch interference with free-hand needle placement in men undergoing prostate brachytherapy

Widespread PSA screening will increase overall health care costs. This increase will not result from the detection of clinically insignificant prostate cancer, but rather from the stage migration caused by prostate cancer screening. This stage migration will result in a larger percentage of men with prostate cancer undergoing early treatment options, which are more expensive than treatment of late disease. More importantly, early detection of prostate cancer will lead to treatment several years earlier than would have occurred otherwise. Because treatment then will be paid for in current rather than future dollars, the opportunity costs of money will make treatment costs resulting from PSA screening greater than treatment costs resulting from traditional detection. The critical question is what benefits will be obtained by the expenditure of these additional health care dollars. If early treatment of clinically localized cancer has little or no effect on cause-specific survival, the additional health care costs will have been spent only to limit eventual treatment of local symptoms in the screened men. If early treatment of prostate cancer can increase survival, the added expense is more worthwhile. Because there are not adequate data available to address this issue, several approaches have been used to develop models to estimate cost-effectiveness. Decision analysis models have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of prostate cancer screening and treatment and have found little or no benefit. The current review has demonstrated how assumptions used in the models can influence the results. Benoit et al also have constructed a model of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of prostate cancer, but in this study only concrete parameters such as cost, published complication rates, and survival data were used. This quantitative analysis demonstrated that prostate cancer screening is an effective and cost-effective health care intervention compared with currently accepted medical interventions. Although men aged 50 to 70 years will potentially benefit the most from PSA screening, this benefit will not be realized until these men are in their seventh and eighth decades of life. Society must decide if the years of life saved in these men warrants the use of its limited health care resources. This decision will be easier when randomized, controlled trials are available to quantify the costs and benefits of PSA screening.

Dosimetric outcomes in prostate brachytherapy: is downsizing the prostate with androgen deprivation necessary?

PURPOSE We created a computer model for evaluating the effect of dysfunctional voiding on the costs of managing vesicoureteral reflux in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS The literature on vesicoureteral reflux was reviewed to create a set of assumptions regarding the epidemiology, likelihood of resolution, need for operative intervention, risk of infection and appropriate regimen for nonoperative surveillance. Recent literature describing the effect of dysfunctional voiding on the clinical course of vesicoureteral reflux was included in the model to compare the costs of treating vesicoureteral reflux in children with and without dysfunctional voiding. A 5-year management period was considered. RESULTS Dysfunctional voiding in children with vesicoureteral reflux increased the cost of treatment per patient by 51.2%. The cost per patient increased with increasing grade in those with and without dysfunctional voiding. The difference in costs in the 2 groups increased from 18.7% for grade 1 reflux to 62.1% for grade 5. Sensitivity analysis was performed, in which the risk of urinary tract infection, rate of surgical resolution, incidence of dysfunctional voiding and discount rate varied. The cost in children with dysfunctional voiding remained higher in all scenarios studied, showing the robustness of the model. CONCLUSIONS Dysfunctional voiding substantially increases the costs of treating children with vesicoureteral reflux due to the higher rate of urinary tract infection in children with dysfunctional voiding. Methods that would decrease the rate of urinary tract infection in children with dysfunctional voiding and vesicoureteral reflux would lead to a significant saving of health care dollars.

Acute bowel morbidity after prostate brachytherapy with cesium-131

OBJECTIVES One criticism of routine prostate cancer screening is the possibility that latent prostate cancer would be detected and treated in men who would otherwise never need treatment for their prostate cancer. This increase in latent cancer detection with screening could lead to overtreatment, with its resulting increases in morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. In contrast, breast cancer screening is widely accepted, and there is little concern about latent breast cancer detection and overtreatment of breast cancer due to screening. This study compares the detection of latent prostate cancer from screening with the detection of latent cancer in an established cancer screening program (breast cancer screening) and examines the risk that screening leads to an increase in detection of latent cancer over traditional methods of detection for both breast and prostate cancer. METHODS The present study reviews outcomes data from several large prostate and breast cancer screening trials. The natural history of latent prostate and breast cancer is then reviewed. By applying this information, the rate of latent prostate cancer detection and latent breast cancer detection with screening is compared. RESULTS Recent large-scale prostate cancer screening studies have reported a latent cancer detection rate of 2.9% to 8.0%. This rate of detection is virtually the same as that found by traditional methods of detection. Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a noninvasive breast cancer that accounts for 16.2% to 23.7% of breast cancers detected in screening programs using mammography. The literature estimates that DCIS will remain latent in 50% to 66% of patients. These data suggest that the latent breast cancer detection rate in screening programs is 8.1% to 15.6%, which is a threefold to fivefold increase compared with the detection rate of latent breast cancer prior to screening with mammography. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that the latent prostate cancer detection rate from screening is similar to or less than the latent breast cancer detection rate from screening. Furthermore, prostate cancer screening does not appear to increase the detection rate of latent cancer over traditional methods of detection. This should eliminate concern that prostate cancer screening will lead to overtreatment of prostate cancer.

Prostate brachytherapy after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis reconstruction.

PURPOSE The present study evaluates the postimplant dosimetry when free-hand needles were placed to overcome interference from the pubic arch. METHODS AND MATERIALS A review of all patients who underwent prostate brachytherapy at our institution from 2001 to 2006 was performed. Postimplant dosimetry in men requiring free-hand needle placement was compared with postimplant dosimetry in men not requiring free-hand needle placement. RESULTS Of the 145 patients who underwent prostate brachytherapy, 8 patients required free-hand needle placement. The mean prostate volume in the free-hand needle cohort was 46.0cc with a mean of 3.4 free-hand needles placed. In the 137 patients not requiring free-hand needle placement, the mean volume was 39.7cc. The mean D(90), V(100), V(150), and rectal V(100) for the free-hand cohort was 129.5%, 96.3%, 81.6%, and 1.45cc, respectively. The mean D(90), V(100), V(150), and rectal V(100) in men not requiring free-hand needle placement was 126.8%, 97.1%, 78.7%, and 1.03cc, respectively. CONCLUSION The present study finds that adequate postimplant dosimetry can be obtained if free-hand needles are required due to pubic arch interference.