PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 695, p7 - 1 Feb 2014

Nucleic acid amplification "highlysensitive and efficient" for BC

Using one step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) forintraoperative sentinel lymph node analysis appears tobe a sensitive, efficient and potentially cost-savingtechnique for determining sentinel node status inwomen with breast cancer (BC), say researchers fromthe UK.

Data from 258 patients undergoing OSNA at a singleinstitution were collected prospectively betweenSeptember 2011 and February 2013. Costs includedthose for upfront purchase costs, and OSNA cost perpatient minus the cost of standard Haematoxylin andEosin stain analyses.

Capital costs to establish OSNA were £40 000, andthe cost was £286 for a patient to undergo OSNAtesting. Using OSNA on all patients undergoing sentinelbiopsy saved a second procedure on 20% of patients,thereby saving £2030 per patient. The total saving eachyear for using OSNA was estimated to be £52 076.King PM, et al. The health economics of one step nucleic acid amplification forintraoperative sentinel lymph node analysis in breast cancer. 36th Annual SanAntonio Breast Cancer Symposium : abstr. P1-01-11, 10 Dec 2013. 803098918

1

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 1 Feb 2014 No. 6951173-5503/14/0695-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2014 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved