COSTS OF INTRODUCING AUTOLOGOUS BMT IN THE TREATMENT OF LYMPHOMA AND ACUTE-LEUKEMIA IN THE NETHERLANDS

In a retrospective study we calculated the costs of introducing autolo gous BMT in the treatment of patients with malignant lymphoma and acut e leukaemia in The Netherlands. The cost analysis has been performed i n five university hospitals and one cancer centre, in a series of pati ents with intermediate and high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and patients with AML, Conventional treatment consisted of chemotherapy. The average costs of the conventional NHL treatment varied from US$312 0 to US$12 900. The costs of autologous BMT amounted to US$40 220, In the AML group the costs of conventional treatment amounted to about US $11 040, as only 50% of the patients were treated further. The costs o f autologous BMT including a follow-up period of 2 years, amounted to US$55 440. In The Netherlands the total number of autologous BMTs per year in these patient groups was estimated at 230; 180 in the NHL grou p and 50 in the AML group. The costs of introducing autologous BMT to the NHL group will vary between 4.93 and 6.68 million dollars and for the AML group these costs were estimated at 2.22 million dollars. As a result, the total extra costs of introducing autologous BMTs are expe cted to be between 7.15 and 8.9 million dollars.