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Ruling out IBD: estimation of the possible economic effects of pre-endoscopic screening with F-calprotectin
Mirja Mindemark1, Anders Larsson
1Department of Medical Sciences, Section of Clinical Chemistry, Akademiska sjukhuset, Uppsala, Sweden. Mirja.Mindemark@medsci.uu.se
Objectives:
To estimate the possible economic effects of a sequential testing strategy with F-calprotectin to minimize colonoscopies.
Design And Methods:
Retrospective study in a third party payer perspective. The costs were calculated from initial F-calprotectin test results of 3639 patients. Two cut-off levels were used: 50 μg/g feces and 100 μg/g feces, respectively. The cost-effectiveness of the testing strategy was estimated through the short-term cost avoidance and reduction in demand for colonoscopies.
Results:
The estimated demand for colonoscopies was reduced by 50% with the 50 μg/g cut-off and 67% with the 100 μg/g cut-off. This corresponded to a cost avoidance of approximately €1.57 million and €2.13 million, respectively.
Conclusions:
The use of F-calprotectin as a screening test substantially could reduce the number of invasive measurements necessary in the diagnostic work-up of patients with suspected IBD, as well as the associated costs.
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