Cost-Effectiveness Of Metal Stents In Pancreatic Cancer

260 Background: American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guidelines recommend endoscopic metal stent placement for pancreatic carcinoma patients with biliary obstruction and estimated life expectancy of >6 months. Because life expectancy of many such patients has until now been <6 months, plastic stents are frequently placed. Recent phase III trials demonstrated that compared with current standards of care, treatment with chemotherapy regimens FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel significantly prolonged overall survival (OS) well beyond the 6-month range. Given this prolonged survival, we evaluated the cost effectiveness of initial metal versus plastic stent placement in pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients with biliary obstruction. Methods: A Markov cohort model was developed to project lifetime health-related outcomes, costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and cost effectiveness of metal compared with plastic stents. Patients entered the model with locally advanced cancer and underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with metal or plastic stent placement. Patients were at risk of complications, stent migration or occlusion with subsequent stent placement, progression to metastatic cancer, and death. Published sources were used to estimate clinical, cost, utility, and event rate inputs, and results were presented from the 3rd party payer perspective in 2012 U.S. dollars/QALY. In sensitivity analyses, overall survival was varied from 6-24 months to assess the impact of uncertainty in estimates on model outcomes. Results: Patients with metal stents had lower costs and greater overall and quality-adjusted survival. Placement of metal stents saved approximately $1,500 per patient over a lifetime, improving OS by 0.07 months and quality-adjusted survival by 0.10 months. These findings were robust in sensitivity analyses varying the length of survival for patients with pancreatic cancer. Conclusions: This model demonstrates that placement of metal biliary stents at initial onset of obstructive jaundice in patients with stage III/IV pancreatic adenocarcinoma is cost saving and improves survival when compared with use of plastic stents.