Research on Brain Metastasis Published by Researchers at Drexel University College of Medicine (Cost of Treatment for Brain Metastases Using Data From a National Health Insurance): Brain Diseases and Conditions – Brain Metastasis

2024 MAY 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Data detailed on brain metastasis have been presented. According to news reporting from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “In the United States, brain metastases (BMs) affect 10% to 20% of patients with cancer, presenting a significant health care challenge and necessitating intricate, high-cost treatments. Few studies have explored the comprehensive care cost for BMs, and none have used real insurance claims data.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Drexel University College of Medicine: “Partnering with a northeastern health care insurer, we investigated the true costs of various brain-directed radiation methods, aiming to shed light on treatment expenses, modalities, and their efficacy. We analyzed medical claims from Highmark Health-insured patients in Pennsylvania, Delware, West Virginia, and New York diagnosed with BMs (ICD-10 code C79.31) and treated with radiation from January 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022. Costs for radiation techniques were grouped by specific current procedural terminology claim codes. We subdivided costs into technical and physician components and separated hospital from freestanding costs for some modalities. From January 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022, 1048 Highmark Health members underwent treatment for BMs. Females (n = 592) significantly outnumbered males (n = 456), with an average age of 64.4 years. Each member had, on average, 5.309 claims costing $2015 per claim. Total cost totaled $10,697,749. Per-treatment analysis showed that hippocampal avoidance intensity modulated radiation therapy was the costliest treatment at $47,748, followed by stereotactic radiation therapy at $37,230, linear accelerator stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) at $30,737, Gamma Knife SRS at $30,711, and whole-brain radiation therapy at $5225.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Whole-brain radiation therapy was the least costly radiation technique. Similar per-treatment prices for Gamma Knife and linear accelerator SRS support their use in treating BMs. Stereotactic radiation therapy in general was costlier on a per-use basis than SRS, prompting further scrutiny on its frequent use. Hippocampal avoidance intensity modulated radiation therapy was the costliest radiation therapy on a per-use basis by a moderate amount, prompting further discussion about its comparative cost effectiveness against other radiation modalities. This study underscores the importance of multiple considerations in treating BMs, such as tumor control, survival, side effects, and costs.”

For more information on this research see: Cost of Treatment for Brain Metastases Using Data From a National Health Insurance. Advances in Radiation Oncology, 2024,9(5):101438. (Advances in Radiation Oncology - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/advances-in-radiation-oncology/). The publisher for Advances in Radiation Oncology is Elsevier.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adro.2024.101438.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting BS Joseph Crooks, Department of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Additional authors for this research include PhD Oralia Dominic, MD Matthew Shepard, MD Alexander Yu, PhD Yun Liang, MD Stephen M. Karlovits, MD Rodney E. Wegner.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)