The Economic Evaluation of Diagnostic Tool with 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose from Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis

Ya-Ting Huang, Yu-Ming Fan, Li-Yu Chen, Shiang-ling Lin, Chih-Yi Wu, Guang-Uei Hung, Ya-Yao Huang

Published by the 2023 Annual Conference of SNM, Taiwan

Background
Imaging with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) plays a significant diagnostic role in cancer and non-cancer followed by influencing treatment decision-making. Because of the clinical benefits of FDG imaging, its cost-effectiveness is of interest. We aimed to integrate these varied studies of the economic evaluation of FDG imaging and to better understand the cost-effectiveness of FDG imaging by comparing it with other diagnostic methods and tools.

Method
The PubMed/MEDLINE and Cochrane Library databases were used to perform a comprehensive and systematic search and were updated on October 25, 2022. The cost was standardized, and the incremental net benefit (INB) with its variance was estimated. Then, a Bayesian network meta-analysis was performed by classifying health outcomes, such as quality-adjusted life years, life expectancy, and diagnostic accuracy. The mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for continuous outcomes as INB.

Result
The current network meta-analysis included 23 studies conducted between 2000 and 2023. Among the included studies, 13 used CEA, and 10 used CUA to conduct economic evaluations. In the league table, the estimated INBs of FDG imaging compared with other diagnostic methods and tools were positive, indicating that it was cost-effective, except for CT-guided aspiration (CTG) in CUA. Comparing both FDG imaging modalities in CEA for predicting life expectancy, the cost-effectiveness of PET/CT+CT was better than that of PET/CT, and PET+CT was superior to PET alone.

Conclusion
According to the current network meta-analysis for economic evaluation, FDG imaging
outperformed other diagnostic methods and tools for CEA and CUA.