Comparing cost-effectiveness analyses for the clinical oncology setting: The example of the Gynecologic Oncology Group 111 trial

For the practicing oncologist, balancing quality of care with cost containm ent has become an unavoidable challenge. The development of new technologie s, increased patient awareness, growth of managed care, and aging of our po pulation represent conflicting interests in this endeavor. Medical literatu re has recently been inundated with economic analyses in an effort to appro ach some of these difficult questions, but often times it is difficult to s ee how this research applies to any particular oncologist's practice. This article identifies many of the key issues raised in the critical evaluation of cost-effectiveness analyses as they relate to the practicing oncologist . We offer suggestions on the interpretation of these studies to the clinic al setting, using the recently published Journal of Clinical Oncology artic les on cost-effectiveness analyses of paclitaxel-cisplatin as first-line th erapy for ovarian cancer as examples.