Health Economic Evaluation of Proton Therapy for Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, there have been no systematic reviews of health economic evaluations of proton therapy specific to lung cancer. METHODS: We conducted this systematic review according to the predefined protocol [PROSPERO CRD42022365869]. We summarized the results of the included studies via structured narrative synthesis. RESULTS: We identified four studies (all used passively scattered proton therapy) from 787 searches. Two cost analyses reported that proton therapy was more costly than photon therapy for early- or locally advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer, one cost-utility analysis reported that proton therapy was dominated by nonproton therapy in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, and one cost-utility analysis reported that proton therapy was not cost-effective (vs. photon) in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Passively scattered proton therapy was more costly and not cost-effective than photon therapy for early- and locally advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Further health economic evaluations regarding modern proton therapy (such as scanning beam) for common radiotherapy indications of lung cancer are eagerly awaited.

Unmet supportive care needs and its relation to quality of life among adult acute leukaemia patients in China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with acute leukaemia (AL) usually require prolonged periods of hospitalisation. The treatment and clinical symptoms may lead to patients' supportive care needs (SCNs) not being met and impairs their quality of life (QoL). Studies on QoL and SCNs among AL patients are limited. This study aimed to identify the unmet SCNs and its relation to QoL of adult AL patients in China. METHODS: This multicentre cross-sectional study recruited 346 participants to complete a self-developed questionnaire, detailing demographic information and disease-related variables. A 34-item Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34) was used to identify unmet SCNs, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Leukaemia (FACT-Leu) questionnaire measured patients' QoL. RESULTS: Unmet SCN rates for the 34 items ranged from17.6 to 81.7%. Patients' needs were high for health systems and information, but low in the sexual domain. The results reveal nine factors associated with the unmet SCNs of adult AL patients, including marital status, original residence, age, education, occupation, other diseases, chemotherapy course, disease course, and treatment stage (p < 0.05). The total score of the FACT-Leu negatively correlated with the SCNS-SF34 in the physical/daily living (r = - 0.527, p < 0.01), psychological (r = - 0.688, p < 0.01), sexual (r = - 0.170, p < 0.01), patient care and support (r = - 0.352, p < 0.01), and health systems and information (r = - 0.220, p < 0.01) domains. CONCLUSIONS: Adult AL patients exhibit a high demand for unmet SCNs, especially in the domain of health systems and information. There was a significant association between patients' unmet SCNs and QoL. Future research should develop tailored interventions to address the unmet SCNs of adult AL patients, to further improve their QoL.