Lifetime costs of lung transplantation: estimation of incremental costs

Despite an expanding number of centres which provide lung transplantation, information about the incremental costs of lung transplantation is scarce. From 1991 until 1995, in The Netherlands a technology assessment was performed which provided information about the incremental costs of lung transplantation. Costs in the situation with and without a transplantation programme were compared from a lifetime perspective. Because randomization was ethically inadmissible, only costs in the situation with the programme were observed. Both conventional treatment costs and costs of the transplantation programme were registered. Costs in the situation without the programme were based on the conventional treatment costs in the situation with the programme. Due to the study period of four years, long term follow-up costs were estimated. The total incremental costs per transplanted patient were estimated at Dfl 466,767 (5% discounted costs). The main part of these costs was caused by the high costs during the lifetime follow-up of the patients.