Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 12, 2025

A Novel Method: Super-selective Adrenal Venous Sampling
Published on: September 15, 2017
Cost-effectiveness analysis of segmental adrenal venous sampling with radiofrequency ablation for primary
Satoru Yanagaki1,2, Kei Omata3,4, Sota Oguro5
1Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. satoru.yanagaki.c7@tohoku.ac.jp.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of comprehensive treatment strategy, including segmental adrenal venous sampling (sAVS) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA), versus medication-only strategy for primary aldosteronism.
Materials And Methods:
A Markov decision model was developed to compare the cost-effectiveness of a comprehensive treatment strategy and a medication-only strategy for 50-year-old men and women with stage I-III hypertension. The comprehensive treatment strategy included aldosterone/renin ratio measurement, two loading tests, computed tomography, sAVS, drugs, surgery, and RFA. We built a model with a yearly cycle over 32- and 38-year time horizons for men and women, respectively, and four health states: hypertension, heart failure, stroke, and death. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), expressed as Japanese yen per quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), was estimated, and strategy preference was determined on the basis of 5 million Japanese yen per QALY societal willingness-to-pay threshold.
Results:
The ICERs of the comprehensive treatment strategy over the medication-only strategy were 201,482 and 3,399 JPY per QALY for men and women, respectively. The resultant ICER was less than the 5 million JPY societal willingness-to-pay threshold. Deterministic sensitivity analysis and probabilistic sensitivity analysis revealed that the results varied with the input values, but the comprehensive strategy was likely to be more cost-effective than the medication-only strategy.
Conclusion:
This cost-effectiveness study revealed that a comprehensive treatment strategy including sAVS and RFA was favorable compared with the medication-only strategy for managing stage I-III hypertension in 50-year-old men and women, with acceptable willingness-to-pay thresholds. This cost-effectiveness study revealed that a comprehensive treatment strategy for primary aldosteronism that included segmental adrenal sampling and radiofrequency ablation was favorable compared with the medication-only strategy for managing stage I-III hypertension in 50-year-old men and women, with acceptable willingness-to-pay thresholds.

