ICG Vs 99Tc in Breast Surgery - How to Match Quality Health Care and Cost Reduction: A Cost Effectiveness Study
Abstract
Introduction: Scientific evidence shows how ICG sensiilty and specificity is comparable to 99Tc, and in many Breast Units ICG has become the gold standard for sentinel lymph node detection. Aim of this study is a cost-effectiveness analysis of the sentinel lymph node detection pathway using ICG, compared to the 98Tc one.
Materials and methods: 291 patients received a 99Tc injection the day before surgery and an ICG one in the OP day. As in our hospital a Nuclear Medicine Department does not exist, patients had to undergo an adjunctive travel in order to receive Technetium. We calculated costs of the whole Technetum procedure as like as the costs
of the ICG one.
Results: The overall amount of costs of the Technetium injection has been equal to 450363,62€. The ICG pathway has had an overall cost of 98668,7€, equal to a 21.9% of the Technetium expenses.
11 March 2025
