Economic assessment on the management of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Abstract

In the last decade, several new promising treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) have been developed. Healthcare costs are increasing and new treatments tend to be very expensive; therefore, information about the cost effectiveness in treatments for CLL is urgently needed. The authors performed a literature review on the currently available economic evaluations on CLL treatments. A total of 65 articles were found, of which 11 could be included. These articles were evaluated on the basis of six methodological requirements for economic evaluations, enabling readers to judge the value of the studies. Only a small amount of information was available on the costs of CLL treatments. Future economic evaluations should be performed according to the methodological requirements for these studies, which should also be properly documented.

Keywords::

• chlorambucil
• chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
• cost analysis
• cost of illness
• costs
• economic evaluation
• fludarabine
• healthcare costs
• monoclonal antibodies
• stem cell transplantation