Clinical Edge

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Cost of Triaging Patients with Minor Cervical Lesions

BJOG; ePub 2016 Jun 6; Pedersen, Sørbye, et al

Using the best strategy to triage younger women with minor cervical cytological lesions to detect precancers depends on resources available, according to an analysis involving young women.

Investigators used a simulation model to compare 12 triage strategies involving alternative biomarkers. They looked at number of high-grade precancers detected, resource use, and cost-efficiency for each strategy. Among the results:

• 5 strategies were determined to be cost-efficient; they were projected to increase the precancer detection rate between 18% and 57%, vs strategies outlined in current guidelines.

• The 5 strategies did not uniformly require additional resources.

• Strategies involving HPV mRNA testing required fewer resources.

• HPV DNA-based strategies detected >50% more precancers, but were costlier and required twice as many colposcopy referrals vs current guidelines strategies.

Citation: Pedersen K, Sørbye S, Kristiansen I, Burger E. Using novel biomarkers to triage young adult women with minor cervical lesions: A cost-effectiveness analysis. [Published online ahead of print June 6, 2016]. BJOG. doi:10.1111/1471-0528.14135.