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(Chest. 1997;112:937-945.)
© 1997 American College of Chest Physicians

The Importance of Sputum Cytology in the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

A Cost-effectiveness Analysis

Stephen S. Raab MD1; John Hornberger MD, MS2; and Thomas Raffin MD, FCCP3

1 From the Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City
2 From the Departments of Health Research and Policy and Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.
3 From the Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

Study objective: To assess the potential health and cost effects of initial testing with sputum cytology to diagnose lung cancer.

Design: Cost-effectiveness analysis.

Data sources: Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program; cost data from Northern California Kaiser Permanente Hospitals and Universities of Stanford and Iowa; National Center for Health Statistics; and a MEDLINE search.

Interventions: The use of sputum cytologies preceding other tests (ie, fine-needle aspiration, bronchoscopy, thoracoscopy) in patients with suspected lung cancer.

Main outcome measures: Mortality associated with testing and initial surgical treatment (eg, performance of thoracoscopy to remove a local-stage, centrally located cancer), cost of testing and initial treatment, life expectancy, lifetime cost of medical care, and cost-effectiveness.

Results: In central lesions, sputum cytology as the first test was the dominant strategy because it both lowers medical-care costs ($2,516 per patient) and lowers the mortality risk (19 deaths in 100,000 patients) of the evaluation without adversely affecting long-term survival. In peripheral lesions, sputum cytology costs less then $25,000 per year of life saved if the pretest probability of cancer exceeds 50%. The estimated annual savings of adopting sputum cytology as the first test for diagnosing lung cancer in the United States is at least $30 million.

Conclusions: Experience in regional centers indicates that sputum cytologic testing is infrequently ordered before implementing invasive diagnostic techniques, even in patients with central lung masses. The study findings suggest that sputum cytology as the first test in suspected lung cancer is likely to be cost saving without adversely affecting patient outcomes.

Key Words: cost-effectiveness • diagnostic testing • pulmonary lesions

Submitted on March 19, 1997
Accepted on April 23, 1997






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Copyright © 1997 by the American College of Chest Physicians.