Table 5

Cost-effectiveness comparison between palpation- and ultrasound-guided thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsies with costs from this study and outcomes from previous studies

Author Year

n

P-FNA Inadequate

P-FNA Strategy Cost*

P-FNA Accuracy

USG-FNA Inadequate

USG-FNA Strategy Cost*

USG-FNA Accuracy

ICER

Reference

Danese 1998

9683

9%

€270

0.73

4%

€337

0.76

+€2233

[3]

Hatada 1998

166

30%

€395

0.48

17%

€413

0.68

+€90

[4]

Cesur 2006

285

32%

€430

0.77

21%

€437

0.89

+€58

[5]

Izquierdo 2006

376

11%

€290

0.61

7%

€344

0.80

+€284

[6]

Can 2009

268

42%

€534

0.64

29%

€523

0.72

-€138

This study

n: total number of nodules, P-FNA: palpation-guided thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy, Inadequate: inadequate rate, USG-FNA: ultrasound-guided thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy, ICER: incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. ICER is calculated by dividing the difference between strategy cost of USG-FNA and strategy cost of P-FNA to the difference between accuracy of USG-FNA and P-FNA. A positive ICER value indicates more, a negative ICER value indicates less expense for USG-FNA strategy over P-FNA strategy *Strategy cost is derived from figure 1 or 2, table 1 and cytology outcomes from references.

Can BMC Endocrine Disorders 2009 9:14   doi:10.1186/1472-6823-9-14