An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: a cost-effectiveness analysis of incidentally detected aneurysms in functional MRI research.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Despite ongoing debate about best practices for managing incidentally detected findings in brain research studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), this issue has not been investigated from a health economics viewpoint. We applied a decision-analytic approach to assess the benefit of various strategies for functional MRI (fMRI) studies using intracranial aneurysms (IA) as a model.

Methods

A decision tree and Markov model were created to simulate the impact on the lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) of four different strategies for review of scans for the presence of IA. To populate the decision model, we used current evidence from the literature and results from a survey of experts.

Results

Review of the anatomical scans by a nonspecial

SUBMITTER: Sadatsafavi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10517630 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature