Endoscopic Ultrasonography-Guided Gastroenterostomy Is More Cost Effective Than Surgical Gastrojejunostomy: A...

There is a paucity of data on the cost-utility of endoscopic ultrasonography-guided gastroenterostomy (EUS-GE) compared with surgical gastrojejunostomy (SGJ) as palliative treatment of malignant gastric outlet obstruction.

In the ENDURO trial, 98 patients with malignant gastric outlet obstruction from 12 Dutch hospitals were randomized between EUS-GE (N = 48) and SGJ (N = 50). Cost utility was evaluated from a healthcare perspective with a time horizon of 1 month. A bottom-up approach was used to calculate the costs of each intervention, including the per-minute price of the endoscopy and operating room (OR), considering personnel, construction, inventory and overhead costs. Other in-hospital costs were calculated using insurance claim data. Effectiveness was displayed as quality-adjusted life years (QALY). Bootstrapping was performed to estimate uncertainty.

The calculated per-minute price for the endoscopy room was €8.64 (US $9.34). The per-minute price for an OR was €11.78 (US $12.74). The mean intervention costs were estimated at €4405.40 (US $4762.68) for EUS-GE and €3393.71 (US $3668.93) for SGJ. Mean total in-hospital costs were lower following EUS-GE (€5172 [US $5591]) than after SGJ (€10,458 [US $11,306]), mainly due to a shorter length of hospital stay following EUS-GE. Bootstrapping showed that 99.9% of iterations resulted in lower costs for EUS-GE. Mean difference in 1-month QALY contribution was 0.004 in favor of EUS-GE. Most iterations fall within the bottom right quadrant (95.6%) of the cost-effectiveness plane, indicating lower costs and improved QALY contribution for EUS-GE.

In this study, EUS-GE was more cost effective than SGJ. The additional intervention costs were clearly outweighed by a decrease in in-hospital costs after the procedure.