Sentinel lymph node biopsy for head and neck cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma using the Brigham and Women's staging system: a cost analysis

Squamous cell carcinoma in solid organ transplant recipients: Review of the literature

Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) exhibit an elevated incidence and aggressiveness of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) due to their immunosuppression. These tumors are associated with a heightened risk of metastasis and increased mortality. Therefore, an appropriate management of these patients is essential to improve their prognosis. Given the scarcity of studies on non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) in SOTRs, this article aims to summarize and analyze the evidence gathered to date regarding therapeutic approaches, personalized monitoring, and prevention strategies for SCCs in these patients. Additionally, recent advancements in understanding SCCs within this patient group are also documented.

Locally Advanced Gastric Cancer Management: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Across the nation, patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC) are managed with modalities including upfront surgery (US) and perioperative chemotherapy (PCT). Preoperative therapies have demonstrated survival benefits over US and thus long-term outcomes are expected to vary between the options. However, as these 2 modalities continue to be regularly employed, we sought to perform a decision analysis comparing the costs and quality-of-life associated with the treatment of patients with LAGC to identify the most cost-effective option. We designed a decision tree model to investigate the survival and costs associated with the most commonly utilized management modalities for LAGC in the United States: US and PCT. The tree described costs and treatment strategies over a 6-month time horizon. Costs were derived from 2022 Medicare reimbursement rates using the third-party payer perspective for physicians and hospitals. Effectiveness was represented using quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). One-way, two-way, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were utilized to test the robustness of our findings. PCT was the most cost-effective treatment modality for patients with LAGC over US with a cost of $40,792.16 yielding 3.11 QALYs. US has a cost of $55,575.57 while yielding 3.15 QALYs; the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was $369,585.25. One-way and two-way sensitivity analyses favored PCT in all variations of variables across their standard deviations. Across 100,000 Monte Carlo simulations, 100% of trials favored PCT. In our model simulating patients with LAGC, the most cost-effective treatment strategy was PCT. While US demonstrated improved QALYs over PCT, the associated cost was too great to justify its use.