Cost-effectiveness of "full spectrum endoscopy" colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening

BACKGROUND: Compared to standard forward viewing colonoscopy, we aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of full spectrum endoscopy colonoscopy in a population-based colorectal cancer screening and surveillance program.
METHODS: A Markov model was constructed to simulate the occurrence of colorectal neoplasia in a cohort of 100,000 subjects aged 50-100 years. The cost-effectiveness of full spectrum endoscopy was compared with that of standard forwarding viewing colonoscopy. Sensitivity for adenomatous and hyperplastic polyps <5mm, 6-9mm, and high-risk polyps were derived from the recent randomized tandem Fuse colonoscopy study.
RESULTS: The significantly higher sensitivity of full spectrum endoscopy in detecting additional adenomas resulted in an increase in cancer prevention from 58% to 74%, corresponding to a gain of 9 days per person. This 14% increase led to an absolute reduction in the cost of cancer care from $90 million to $57 million. This cost savings was only minimally impacted by the higher cost of more frequent post-polypectomy colonoscopy surveillance rates, leading to full spectrum endoscopy being associated with a savings of $145 per person. Thus, standard colonoscopy appeared to be "dominated" by the full spectrum endoscopy.
CONCLUSIONS: Compared to standard colonoscopy, full spectrum endoscopy appears to be more cost-effective for colon cancer screening and surveillance.