Healthcare costs in relation to increased use of preoperative renal tumour biopsies.

Abstract

Objective: To analyse the budget impact of adopting routine renal tumour biopsy (RTB) prior to decision on surgical treatment for clinical T1 renal tumours in Sweden.

Material and methods: This study used data from the National Swedish Kidney Cancer Register including 4,109 T1N0M0 renal tumours surgically treated during the years 2018-2022. We modelled a gradual increase in the proportion of preoperative RTBs over a five-year period, from 15.6 % of surgically removed clinical T1N0M0 renal tumors up to 90 % preoperative RTBs by 2029. Average costs per patient were calculated primarily using the Swedish cost-per-patient database. The analyses were stratified by tumour diameter: ≤40 mm (cT1a) and 41-70 mm (cT1b). The proportion of patients with benign RTB, complication rate and false negative RTBs was estimated from register data and previous research. A healthcare perspective was used and accounted for costs related to biopsy, surgery, follow-up of benign RTBs, complications and re-biopsy in cases of inconclusive RTBs.

Results: For cT1a, increasing preoperative RTBs to 90% of the study population reduced the net annual costs by €691,620, whilst for cT1b, costs increased by €67,630. Overall, an increase in preoperative RTBs to 90% of all patients with cT1 renal tumours was projected to reduce spending by €623,990 annually.

Conclusions: The budget impact analysis of routine preoperative RTBs in suspected renal cell carcinoma indicates net healthcare cost savings in cT1a and potentially for all cT1 tumours.