Cost comparisons of managing complex facial basal cell carcinoma: Canadian study

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common human malignancy and accounts for over 60,000 new cases of cancer in Canada annually. Although expensive to the health care system, no Canadian studies have reported the costs involved in management. This study calculated the costs of managing high-risk BCCs using radiotherapy (RT) and Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS).

Forty-nine consecutive complex BCC cases presenting to a skin cancer referral center were collected prospectively. All were located on the head and neck and were either recurrent disease or located in "at risk" sites such as the eye, ear, lip, or nose. All patients underwent MMS. A radiation oncologist reviewed each case retrospectively. The costs of MMS were the actual costs of the procedure, with an additional amount added to account for the technical costs of the surgery. The costs of RT included physician fees and technical fees. A sensitivity analysis was performed using known recurrence rates from the medical literature.

Five patients were excluded from the comparative analysis because radiation was not recommended (age < 50 years or radiation would overlap with a previous radiation field). The direct cost of treating a patient with a single BCC was $871 (range $630-1,159) using MMS and $3,625 (range $3,430-3,971) using RT. The costs were significantly higher for patients with multiple tumors with both modalities (p = .02 for both). The direct costs of a "5-year cure" were $952 (range $644-1,647) for MMS and $3,758 (range $3,564-4,675) for RT.

This study attempted to document the costs associated with two well-recognized and effective methods of treating complex BCC in Ontario. Subgroup analysis revealed independent associations between aggressive histology, larger size, and complexity of surgical closure with higher costs. Although we did notice a trend toward greater costs in patients with recurrent disease, in males, younger patients, and tumors present for > 1 year, these did not reach significance within our sample size. Despite the limitation that treatment costs may be center and provincially dependent, we hope this preliminary report will initiate further study into comparing Canadian costs of managing skin cancer.