Due to lacking of evidence on surveillance for gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma (G-NEC), this study aimed to determine the optimal postsurgical surveillance strategy for G-NEC patients and compare its cost-effectiveness with traditional surveillance strategies.
The development of existing follow-up strategies is mainly based on experts' consensus and researches on recurrence patterns due to the lack of direct evidence and unified standards. On the one hand, it is unreasonable to carry out the same postoperative surveillance for all G-NEC patients. In addition to the early detection of recurrence, the optimal follow-up strategy should also balance cost and effectiveness. There were no criteria for the arrangement of follow-up in different guidelines, and the optimal postoperative follow-up strategy for patients with G-NEC remains unclear. Patients with G-NEC from 21 centers in China were included. Cost-effectiveness were assessed by Markov model.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
801
Chang-ming Huang
Fuzhou, Fujian, China
recurrence rate
distant, peritoneal, and local recurrence
Time frame: 60 months
Delayed-detection months
A hypothetical cohort of 1000 G-NEC patients was generated to compare the effectiveness of surveillance among the above-mentioned strategies by calculating the sum of the delayed detection months. Delayed detection months were defined as the duration from the occurrence of failure to the next-nearest follow-up. For instance, if a patient develops distant metastasis in the 3rd month while the next nearest planned visit is in the 5th month, the delayed -detection time for this patient is 2 months. The total number of delayed detection months of our risk-based surveillance schedule and that of the control strategies were simulated and compared.
Time frame: 60 months
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs)
ICERs were calculated by dividing the difference in cost by the difference in QALY
Time frame: 60 months
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