Blood tests, combined with MRI, reduce injuries and costs when diagnosing cancer
Further reduction of MRI
The STHLM3MRI trial has previously shown that a blood sample called Stockholm3, developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, can reduce the number of MRIs by one third for a single viewing occasion. The same research group now reports that this combination is also considered cost-effective in Sweden compared with both no screening and PSA testing in MRI-based screening.
“Our latest results show that the use of Stockholm3 reduces the number of MRIs over a lifetime by 60 percent. This also avoids unnecessary biopsies by 9 percent, which reduces the overdiagnosis of low-risk cancer, says Mark Clementsdocent vid Department of Medical Epidemiology and BiostatisticsKarolinska Institutet, which is responsible for the cost-effectiveness investigation.
The analysis predicted that MRI-based screening in combination with PSA or Stockholm3 would reduce prostate cancer-related deaths by 7-9 percent over a lifetime compared to no screening at all. The health economic evaluation showed that compared to no screening, screening with PSA followed by Stockholm3 and MRI in high-risk individuals is classified as a moderate cost per won quality-adjusted life year (QALY) according to the definition of the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Health and well-being. Furthermore, PSA combined with MRI is classified as a very high cost per won QALY compared to Stockholm3 combined with MRI.