Endovascular treatment and neurosurgical clipping in subarachnoid hemorrhage: a systematic review of economic evaluations.

Introduction: There are two treatment modalities for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: endovascular treatment (EVT) and neurosurgical clipping. Results of economic evaluations are needed to gain insight into the relationship between clinical effectiveness and costs of these treatment modalities. This important information can inform both clinical decision-making processes and policymakers in facilitating Value-Based Healthcare.

The ICEpop Capability Measure for Adults Instrument for Capabilities: Development of a Tariff for the Dutch General Population.

Objectives: The ICEpop Capability Measure for Adults (ICECAP-A) assesses 5 capabilities (stability, attachment, autonomy, achievement, and enjoyment) that are important to one's quality of life and might be an important addition to generic health questionnaires currently used in economic evaluations. This study aimed to develop a Dutch tariff of the Dutch translation of the ICECAP-A.

Methods: The methods used are similar to those used in the development of the UK tariff.

The ICECAP-A instrument for capabilities: assessment of construct validity and test-retest reliability in a general Dutch population.

Purpose: The ICEpop CAPability measure for Adults (ICECAP-A) assesses five capabilities that are important to one's well-being. The instrument might be an important addition to generic health questionnaires when evaluating quality of life extending beyond health. This study aimed to conduct a psychometric assessment of the Dutch translation of the ICECAP-A.

Longitudinal Relationships between Asthma-Specific Quality of Life and Asthma Control in Children; The Influence of Chronic Rhinitis.

Managing pediatric asthma includes optimizing both asthma control and asthma-specific quality of life (QoL). However, it is unclear to what extent asthma-specific QoL is related to asthma control or other clinical characteristics over time. The aims of this study were to assess in children longitudinally: (1) the association between asthma control and asthma-specific QoL and (2) the relationship between clinical characteristics and asthma-specific QoL.

Determinants of treatment duration in the prevention of recurrent venous thromboembolism: a protocol for a balanced vignette experiment.

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a condition that annually occurs in approximately 1‰ of the world's population. Patients who have already had a VTE are at elevated risk for a recurrent VTE. Recurrent events increase the risk of long-term sequelae and can be fatal.

Prophylactic hydration to protect renal function from intravascular iodinated contrast material in patients at high risk of contrast-induced nephropathy (AMACING): a prospective, randomised, phase 3, controlled, open-label, non-inferiority trial.

Background: Intravenous saline is recommended in clinical practice guidelines as the cornerstone for preventing contrast-induced nephropathy in patients with compromised renal function. However, clinical-effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this prophylactic hydration treatment in protecting renal function has not been adequately studied in the population targeted by the guidelines, against a group receiving no prophylaxis. This was the aim of the AMACING trial.

Treatment of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia: Patients Preferences for Surgery or Immunotherapy with Imiquimod.

Imiquimod has been studied as a noninvasive pharmacological treatment alternative to large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ) for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), to prevent long-term obstetric complications from surgical treatment. This study aims to investigate womens' preferences for treatment of high-grade CIN with imiquimod or LLETZ. A labeled discrete choice experiment was conducted among 100 women with abnormal cervical cytology in 5 hospitals in the Netherlands between March 2014 and December 2015.

Survival or Mortality: Does Risk Attribute Framing Influence Decision-Making Behavior in a Discrete Choice Experiment?

Objective: To test how attribute framing in a discrete choice experiment (DCE) affects respondents' decision-making behavior and their preferences.

Methods: Two versions of a DCE questionnaire containing nine choice tasks were distributed among a representative sample of the Dutch population aged 55 to 65 years. The DCE consisted of four attributes related to the decision regarding participation in genetic screening for colorectal cancer (CRC).

Erythrocytapheresis versus phlebotomy in the maintenance treatment of HFE hemochromatosis patients: results from a randomized crossover trial.

Background: Phlebotomy is standard maintenance treatment of patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH). Erythrocytapheresis, which selectively removes red blood cells, provides a new, potentially more effective treatment option. Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of erythrocytapheresis over phlebotomy for maintenance therapy in patients with HH.

Functional outcome and cost-effectiveness of pulsed electromagnetic fields in the treatment of acute scaphoid fractures: a cost-utility analysis.

Background: Physical forces have been widely used to stimulate bone growth in fracture repair. Addition of bone growth stimulation to the conservative treatment regime is more costly than standard health care. However, it might lead to cost-savings due to a reduction of the total amount of working days lost.

Photodynamic therapy versus topical imiquimod versus topical fluorouracil for treatment of superficial basal-cell carcinoma: a single blind, non-inferiority, randomised controlled trial.

Background: Superficial basal-cell carcinoma is most commonly treated with topical non-surgical treatments, such as photodynamic therapy or topical creams. Photodynamic therapy is considered the preferable treatment, although this has not been previously tested in a randomised control trial. We assessed the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy compared with imiquimod or fluorouracil in patients with superficial basal-cell carcinoma.

The development of quality indicators in mental healthcare: a discrete choice experiment.

Background: Health care regulatory agencies perform audits or inspections to judge the quality and safety of health care. This judgment is based on the assessment of a large set of health care indicators as accepted by the profession. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the influence of these indicators and whether a smaller number would be sufficient for a quality assessment or audit procedure.

Cost-effectiveness of ablation surgery in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing cardiac surgery.

This study was performed to assess the cost-effectiveness of concomitant ablation surgery (AS) compared to regular cardiac surgery in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients over a one-year follow-up. Cost analysis was performed from a societal perspective alongside a prospective, randomised, double-blinded, multicentre trial. One hundred and fifty patients with documented AF were randomly assigned to undergo cardiac surgery with or without AS.

Assessing the public's preference for surgical treatment of primary basal cell carcinoma: a discrete-choice experiment in the south of the Netherlands.

Background: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a slowly growing nonmelanoma type of skin cancer that often is located on the face. Different therapies are available to treat BCC, of which surgical excision (SE) and Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) are the most frequently used surgical procedures.

Objectives: To examine which attributes of a surgical treatment the general public values as important and to determine the incremental willingness to pay for MMS versus SE.

Methods to measure treatment satisfaction in patients with pulmonary embolism or deep venous thrombosis.

Purpose Of Review: The aim of this narrative review is to provide information regarding methods to measure 'treatment satisfaction' related to anticoagulant therapy for patients with pulmonary embolism or deep venous thrombosis (DVT).

Recent Findings: At this moment, there are two new psychometrically validated instruments to measure treatment satisfaction with anticoagulant therapy, the Duke Anticoagulation Satisfaction Scale (DASS) and the Perception of Anticoagulation Treatment Questionnaire (PACT-Q). Both instruments showed good content validity by including dimensions that are considered important by patients, like satisfaction (DASS) and treatment satisfaction (PACT-Q), hassles, limitations, burdens (DASS), convenience (PACT-Q) and expectations (PACT-Q).

Does the inclusion of a cost attribute result in different preferences for the surgical treatment of primary basal cell carcinoma?: a comparison of two discrete-choice experiments.

Background: Nowadays, an increasing number of discrete-choice experiments (DCEs) incorporate cost as an attribute. However, the inclusion of a cost attribute, particularly within collectively funded healthcare systems, can be challenging because health services or goods are generally not traded in a market situation and individuals are not used to paying for a service or a good at the point of consumption.

Objective: To examine whether the inclusion of a cost attribute in a DCE results in different preferences regarding a surgical treatment for primary basal cell carcinoma (BCC) compared with a DCE without a cost attribute.

Transferability of model-based economic evaluations: the case of trastuzumab for the adjuvant treatment of HER2-positive early breast cancer in the Netherlands.

Introduction: Geographic transferability of model-based cost-effectiveness results may facilitate and shorten the reimbursement process of new pharmaceuticals. This study provides a real world example of transferring a cost-effectiveness study of trastuzumab for the adjuvant treatment of HER2-positive early breast cancer from the United Kingdom to The Netherlands.

Methods: Three successive steps were taken.

Surgical excision versus Mohs' micrographic surgery for primary and recurrent basal-cell carcinoma of the face: a prospective randomised controlled trial with 5-years' follow-up.

Background: Basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of skin cancer and its incidence is still rising worldwide. Surgery is the most frequently used treatment for BCC, but large randomised controlled trials with 5-year follow-up to compare treatment modalities are rare. We did a prospective randomised controlled trial to compare the effectiveness of surgical excision with Mohs' micrographic surgery (MMS) for the treatment of primary and recurrent facial BCC.

Cost-effectiveness of Mohs Micrographic Surgery vs Surgical Excision for Basal Cell Carcinoma of the Face.

Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) compared with the surgical excision for both primary and recurrent basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

Design: A cost-effectiveness study performed alongside a prospective randomized clinical trial in which MMS was compared with surgical excision.

Setting: The study was carried out from 1999 to 2002 at the dermatology outpatient clinic of the University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Determinants of satisfaction with the health state of the facial skin in patients undergoing surgery for facial basal cell carcinoma.

Objective: The main objective of the study was to assess which health beliefs predict and explain satisfaction with the facial health state of patients undergoing surgery for basal cell carcinoma.

Methods: Data were collected by administering a newly developed questionnaire pre-operatively and 6 months post-operatively (n = 222).

Results: Results show that satisfaction as measured by post-operative worrying, susceptibility and fear of developing a new BCC at other facial sites can be predicted by pre-operative health beliefs.

Surgical excision vs Mohs' micrographic surgery for basal-cell carcinoma of the face: randomised controlled trial.

Background: Rates of recurrence of facial basal-cell carcinoma are consistently lower after Mohs' micrographic surgery (MMS) than after other treatments, such as surgical excision (SE). However, MMS is more time-consuming and therefore more expensive than SE. We investigated the types of facial basal-cell carcinomas in which MMS was more effective than SE.