Table 5

Charges and cost effectiveness analysis of the surveillance programme (US$)

Baseline costs5-150Costs in
screened pts5-150		Costs in unscreened pts5-150
Surveillance programme
 APF  1440  236  1 4565-151
 Ultrasonography  47135 078  4 8885-151
  Resulting cost175 314  6 3445-151
Diagnostic tests
 Computed tomography1 53011 32215  912
 Echo guided biopsy  955 7009 025
Treatments
 PEI1 61022 54032 200
 TACE5-152 3 250165 750292 500
 Hepatic resection11  97047 88099 850
 OLT54 120324 720432 960
  Resulting cost753 226858 791
Cost for treatable hepatocellular carcinoma17 93414 555

  • ↵5-150 Costs are those allocated to Bologna University Hospital by National Public Health Service and are converted to US$.

  • ↵5-151 Costs are assumed for a single α fetoprotein (AFP) determination and ultrasonography before our observation.

  • ↵5-152 Values account for both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

  • OLT, orthotopic liver transplantation; PEI, percutaneous ethanol injection; TACE, transarterial chemoembolisation.