Cost-effectiveness of surgery for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy in the US.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Surgery is an effective but costly treatment for many patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (DR-TLE). We aim to evaluate whether, in the United States, surgery is cost-effective compared to medical management for patients deemed surgical candidates and whether surgical evaluation is cost-effective for patients with DR-TLE in general.

Methods

We use a semi-Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of surgery and surgical evaluation over a lifetime horizon. We use second-order Monte Carlo simulations to conduct probabilistic sensitivity analyses to estimate variation in model output. We adopt both health care and societal perspectives, including direct health care costs (e.g., surgery, antiepileptic drugs) and indirect costs (e.g., lost earnings by

SUBMITTER: Sheikh SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7538217 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature