Stage-specific treatment costs for cervical cancer in the United Kingdom

In order to examine the relationship between stage at initial diagnosis and management costs for cervical cancer, a detailed cost audit over 5 years w as conducted on a sample of patients diagnosed in 1990 in one U.K. region. The mean costs of managing pre-invasive carcinoma (pound 386) were found to be significantly lower than those of stage 1 invasive carcinoma (pound 662 3) and both were lower than the costs of invasive cancer at stages 2-4 (pou nd 10 910, pound 10 579 and pound 11 035, respectively). A comparison of ma nagement costs for cervical cancer with those of breast cancer by stage rev ealed both that the former are invariably higher and that the cost-by-stage profiles for the two diseases are dissimilar. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.