Cost-Effectiveness of Carbon-Ion Radiotherapy versus Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Carbon-ion radiotherapy (CIRT) for clinical stage I non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is performed as an advanced medical treatment regimen in Japan. CIRT reportedly aids in achieving excellent treatment outcomes, despite its high medical costs. We aimed to compare CIRT with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in terms of cost-effectiveness for treating clinical stage I NSCLC. Data of patients with clinical stage I NSCLC treated with CIRT or SBRT at Gunma University during 2010-2015 were analyzed. The CIRT and SBRT groups included 62 and 27 patients, respectively. After propensity-score matching, both groups comprised 15 patients. Life year (LY) was used as an indicator of outcome. The CIRT technical fee was 3,140,000 JPY. There was no technical fee for the second CIRT performed on the same organ within 2 years. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated by dividing the incremental cost by the incremental LY for 5 years after treatment. Sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of LY or costs of each group on ICER. The ICERs were 7,491,017 JPY/LY and 3,708,330 JPY/LY for all patients and matched patients, respectively. Hospitalization and examination costs were significantly higher in the CIRT group, and the impact of the CIRT technical costs was smaller than other costs and LY. CIRT is a cost-effective treatment approach. However, our findings suggest that reducing excessive costs by considering the validity and necessity of examinations and hospitalizations would make CIRT a more cost-effective approach.