COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF THE INTRODUCTION OF MP-MRI GUIDED BIOPSIES IN CROATIA

Continuous increase of the cost of medical services around the world has become a major topic in the world today. Multiparametric prostate MRI has recently become a new standard in prostate cancer detection, especially in repeated biopsy settings. The method, although superior in cancer detection rates, is costly and requires additional training and equipment. The purpose of our study was to determine the costs and benefits that arise when introducing this method in prostate cancer diagnostics. Repeated prostate biopsy was performed in 101 consecutive patients in the period from 1 October 2016 to 1 July 2017. Patients were divided into two groups based on whether prostate mp-MRI was performed or not. The prices of specific procedures were obtained from the billing service of the Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center and patient models were created to determine financial costs and benefits.The cost of the entire diagnostic process per patient in the non-MRI group was HRK 1.931,05 and HRK 1.848,42 in the mpMRI group, or 4.28% less. Prostate mpMRI and subsequent mpMRI guided biopsies can reduce the overall cost in prostate cancer diagnostics despite the procedure itself being an additional cost. This is achieved by omitting prostate biopsies in patients with low malignancy risk.