The management of breast cancer is a significant public health issue. Early detection of breast cancer through screening mammography, physician clinical examination and breast self-examination can reduce breast cancer mortality by approximately 30%. Most major health organisations agree that...

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have poor survival prospects, as most have advanced disease at diagnosis. Chemotherapy can be used to treat these patients if their performance status is good, although there are geographical differences in chemotherapy use. Combination...

Objective: Cancer-related anaemia is associated with fatigue that adversely affects patients' everyday functioning and wellbeing. We explore the impact of fatigue on patient productivity and caregiver burden. Methods: The analyses are based on data from a randomised, open-label,...

Objective: To conduct an economic analysis on the use of carboplatin versus cisplatin over multiple courses in patients with lung [nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC)] or ovarian cancer. Design: This 1-year study was a prospective, multicentre, cost-minimisation...

Objective: To evaluate the cost effectiveness of gemcitabine in the treatment of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Gemcitabine was compared with best supportive care and gemcitabine/cisplatin was compared with three standard chemotherapies and four other novel chemotherapy...

Background: Two randomised, controlled trials (n = 1396) comparing (i) intravenous fluorouracil (FU) plus oral folinic acid (leucovorin) and (ii) oral tegafur plus uracil (UFT) plus folinic acid for the treatment of metastatic colorectal carcinoma found both regimens to have equivalent efficacy...

Colorectal cancer (CRC), the third most prevalent cancer worldwide, imposes a significant economic and humanistic burden on patients and society. One study conservatively estimated the annual expenditures for colorectal cancer to be approximately $US5.3 billion in 2000, including both direct and...

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death in women with gynaecological cancers. The most common type of ovarian cancer is epithelial ovarian cancer. Referred to as the `silent' killer, this disease is difficult to detect because of the lack of specific symptoms. The majority of women who have...

Generic measures of benefit which employ individuals' preferences, such as the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), are, in principle, the most appropriate outcome measure to use in the economic evaluation of cancer therapies. They can reflect the trade-offs between health-related quality of life...

In past decades, studies focusing on new chemotherapeutic agents for patients with inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer have reported only modest gains in survival. These health gains are achieved at considerable cost, but economic evidence is lacking on superiority of one agent in terms of...