A study on the cost-effectiveness of liquid biopsy compared to colonoscopy for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Here’s a summary of the key points:
- The study found that colonoscopy is the most cost-effective strategy for CRC screening, with an associated mean cost of $9,037 per person.
- Liquid biopsy, as a second-line screening method for CRC, was not cost-effective. Its cost would need to decrease by 66% to be considered a viable alternative.
- The study used a state-transition, cohort-level Markov model based on cancer incidence and mortality data to estimate the cost-effectiveness of five CRC screening strategies compared to no screening. The cohort consisted of individuals aged 45 years with an average risk for cancer.
- The strategies evaluated included colonoscopy, liquid biopsy (LB), LB after nonadherence to colonoscopy (C-LB), stool DNA, and fecal immunochemical test (FIT).
- The simulation results showed that colonoscopy had the most favorable cost-effectiveness ratio, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $28,071 per life-year gained.
- Although C-LB had the greatest life-years gained and reduced total cancers and cancer deaths compared to colonoscopy, it was not cost-effective at its current price.
- For LB to be cost-effective compared to no screening, its price would have to drop to $56.16 in the current simulated model.
The study concludes that liquid biopsy for CRC screening is not cost-effective compared with current screening strategies and would only become viable if significantly less expensive or if polyp detection is introduced along with a decrease in cost.