Tag Archives: medicare

Proton therapy shown to be less costly than some alternative radiotherapy techniques for early stage breast cancer

In a cost analysis study based on typical patient characteristics, researchers used Medicare reimbursement codes to analyze allowable charges for eight different types of partial and whole breast irradiation therapies and treatment schedules available to early stage breast cancer patients. Taken together, these represent roughly 98% of the treatment options available to these patients. …

15-year overall survival benefit lacking in older men treated with hormone therapy for early-stage prostate cancer — ScienceDaily

The research utilized information from 66,717 Medicare patients aged 66 and older diagnosed with clinical stage T1-T2 prostate cancer (cancer that did not spread beyond the prostate) between 1992 and 2009. These men did not have surgery or radiation treatment within six months of their diagnosis. The data were compiled from the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database linked to Medicare files. Grace Lu-Yao, PhD, MPH cancer epidemiologist at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is the lead author…

High variability among primary care physicians in rate of PSA screening

Using complete Medicare Part A and B data for Texas, the researchers selected PCPs whose patient panels included at least 20 men 75 years or older without a prior diagnosis of prostate cancer. Primary care physicians were identified as generalist physicians who saw a man on 3 or more occasions in 2009. PSA screening rates for 2010 were estimated…

Recommended treatment for bone metastases not widely used

“Palliative radiotherapy, comprising l or more fractions (i.e., treatments) of daily radiation, is the mainstay of treatment for painful bone metastases. In 2005, a U.S.-based randomized trial demonstrated no difference in pain relief between single- and multiple-fraction radiotherapy for uncomplicated bone metastases, confirming results from international trials,” according to background information in the article appearing in the October 9 issue of JAMA…

Small cancer risk following CT scans in childhood and adolescence confirmed

CT (computed tomography) scans have great medical benefits, but their increasing use since the 1980s has raised some concerns about possible cancer risks, particularly following exposures in childhood. Most previous studies have estimated risks indirectly, and some radiation experts have questioned the validity of these estimates. There is currently much uncertainty and as such, researchers from Australia and Europe carried out a study comparing cancer rates in patients exposed to CT scans at ages 0-19 years compared with unexposed persons of a similar age. All participants were born between 1985 and 2005 with total follow-up ending at the end of 2007. …