TY - JOUR
T1 - Multinational assessment of some operational costs of teletherapy
AU - Van Der Giessen, Piet Hein
AU - Alert, Jose
AU - Badri, Cholid
AU - Bistrovic, Matija
AU - Deshpande, Deepak
AU - Kardamakis, Dimitris
AU - Van Der Merwe, Debbie
AU - Da Motta, Neiro
AU - Pinillos, Luis
AU - Sajjad, Rena
AU - Tian, Ye
AU - Levin, Vic
PY - 2004/6/1
Y1 - 2004/6/1
N2 - Background and purpose Decisions in planning radiotherapy facilities in countries with limited financial resources require information on economic factors to make provision for sustainability. This study aims at acquiring data on some of these factors involved in delivery of teletherapy in 11 countries of different economic status. Patients and methods Representatives of three European, one African, three Latin American and four Asian countries, were identified from radiation oncology institutions that operated both cobalt and linac teletherapy machines. Productivity data were prospectively collected for the year 2002. A detailed log was recorded for each machine over an arbitrary two-week period. Data on quality assurance (QA), maintenance, the capital costs of each machine, and the source replacement costs for the cobalt units were also recorded. Results Both linear accelerators and cobalt machines treat more than 10,000 fractions per year per machine with 2.5 and 2.3 fields per fraction, respectively. The capital costs of the machines vary considerably, with a factor of more than 10 for linear accelerators. Cobalt sources show a huge variation in price. The median costs of QA and maintenance of a linac was US$ 41,000 compared to US$ 6000 for cobalt machines. This results for the economic factors considered in median costs per fraction of US$ 11.02 for linear accelerators and US$ 4.87 for cobalt machines. These figures do not include the costs for physicians. Conclusions The variation of the costs per fraction is more due to the result of differences in machine usage and costs of equipment than of national economic status. A treatment fraction on a linac with functionality comparable to cobalt, costs 50% more than cobalt therapy. This project shows that it is possible to collect data on economic factors prospectively as well as retrospectively.
AB - Background and purpose Decisions in planning radiotherapy facilities in countries with limited financial resources require information on economic factors to make provision for sustainability. This study aims at acquiring data on some of these factors involved in delivery of teletherapy in 11 countries of different economic status. Patients and methods Representatives of three European, one African, three Latin American and four Asian countries, were identified from radiation oncology institutions that operated both cobalt and linac teletherapy machines. Productivity data were prospectively collected for the year 2002. A detailed log was recorded for each machine over an arbitrary two-week period. Data on quality assurance (QA), maintenance, the capital costs of each machine, and the source replacement costs for the cobalt units were also recorded. Results Both linear accelerators and cobalt machines treat more than 10,000 fractions per year per machine with 2.5 and 2.3 fields per fraction, respectively. The capital costs of the machines vary considerably, with a factor of more than 10 for linear accelerators. Cobalt sources show a huge variation in price. The median costs of QA and maintenance of a linac was US$ 41,000 compared to US$ 6000 for cobalt machines. This results for the economic factors considered in median costs per fraction of US$ 11.02 for linear accelerators and US$ 4.87 for cobalt machines. These figures do not include the costs for physicians. Conclusions The variation of the costs per fraction is more due to the result of differences in machine usage and costs of equipment than of national economic status. A treatment fraction on a linac with functionality comparable to cobalt, costs 50% more than cobalt therapy. This project shows that it is possible to collect data on economic factors prospectively as well as retrospectively.
KW - Costs of radiotherapy
KW - Economic factors
KW - Multinational cost assessment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=2542503313&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.radonc.2004.02.021
DO - 10.1016/j.radonc.2004.02.021
M3 - Article
C2 - 15172152
AN - SCOPUS:2542503313
VL - 71
SP - 347
EP - 355
JO - Radiotherapy and Oncology
JF - Radiotherapy and Oncology
SN - 0167-8140
IS - 3
ER -