Public Health Economy in Oncology: Cost-Benefit Relation between Conventional and Complementary Methods in Cancer Therapy

Abstract: Rising costs of public health are forcing us to employ more rational therapeutic methods in every sector of medicine as well as in cancer therapy. There are several possibilities to reduce the costs of cancer therapy by redefining diagnostic and therapeutic concepts to avoid unnecessary tests and overtreatment without the patients being at a disadvantage. Present findings make it possible to improve the contents, structures and the implementation of cancer prevention, cancer screening and cancer treatment programs. lt is possible to economize costs in cancer prevention; however this is dependent also upon political decisions, especially when setting limits between advantages gained from measures applied in the prevention of cancer and the costs resulting from such methods [costs per 'quality adjusted life year' (DM/QALY)]. Expenses can be reduced in every area of cancer treatment, e.g. in diagnostic tests and chemotherapy. The addition of complementary as well as alternative methods in the treatment of cancer does not necessarily cause an increase in the costs of the therapy, but can lead to a reduction in the costs, especially when the alternative methods are applied in so-called 'therapeutic gaps'. A considerabie rate of economization is to be expected since most cancer patients can be classified after surgery and irradiation under such therapeutic gaps. Long term monitoring of cancer patients is an important component in cancer treatment. Monitoring of patients is indispensable, nevertheless, costs can also be reduced in this area by applying rational diagnostic and therapeutic methods. lt is also important to qualitatively standardize the monitoring of cancer patients by putting emphasis on the most important diagnostic and therapeutic issues.

Keyword(s): Krebsvorsorge

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