IGT can contribute to medical care in two main ways, and this will affect the calculations of cost effectiveness of the procedure, that is the cost per unit of patient benefit.
Supplementary information from further controlled trials, particularly regarding the maintenance of improvements in functional status and QOL, structural progression, and safety will also have be addressed in future calculations of cost effectiveness.
Nonetheless, this kind of tailored, immersive and sophisticated technology does not seem to be used much, even in recent trials, further complicating a realistic calculation of cost-effectiveness.
No calculation of cost-effectiveness was reported in the literature reviewed.
Real-world uptake estimates are valuable as they can be combined with an effectiveness estimate to allow a precise calculation of cost-effectiveness, which can inform commissioning decisions better than efficacy data alone.
Calculation of cost-effectiveness ratios was not relevant because both the effectiveness of the primary and secondary outcomes and reduction in costs were in favor of the experimental intervention.
Although uncertainty will be addressed through the use of robust imputation procedures, calculation of CIs and calculation of cost-effectiveness acceptability curves, assumptions also need to be considered in sensitivity analyses.
A general approach proposed by the World Bank involving the estimation of the burden of disease measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and calculation of cost-effectiveness ratios for a large number of health interventions was followed.
We used Bayesian methods to take account of all of the available information, particularly the information on mortality averted, and to allow subsequent efficient and direct calculation of cost-effectiveness estimates and related parameters for decision-makers [ 11].
QoL measurement is already acknowledged as being central to the calculation of cost-effectiveness of different treatments and hence to the choices between treatments, both at an economic level (e.g. reimbursement of drug treatment costs) and at an individual patient level [ 21].
