Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Surgical, Angioplasty, or Medical Therapeutics for Coronary Artery Disease

5-Year Follow-Up of Medicine, Angioplasty, or Surgery Study (MASS) II Trial

Ricardo D'Oliveira Vieira, MD; Whady Hueb, MD, PhD; Mark Hlatky, MD, PhD; Desiderio Favarato, MD, PhD; Paulo Cury Rezende, MD; ibele Larrosa Garzillo, MD, PhD; Eduardo Gomes Lima, MD; Paulo Rogério Soares, MD, PhD; Alexandre Ciappina Hueb, MD, PhD; Alexandre Costa Pereira, MD, PhD; José Antonio Franchini Ramires, MD, PhD; Roberto Kalil Filho, MD, PhD

Circulation. 2012; 126: S145-S150

Abstract
Background—The Second Medicine, Angioplasty, or Surgery Study (MASS II) included patients with multivessel coronary artery disease and normal systolic ventricular function. Patients underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG, n=203), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI, n=205), or medical treatment alone (MT, n=203). This investigation compares the economic outcome at 5-year follow-up of the 3 therapeutic strategies.

Methods and Results—We analyzed cumulative costs during a 5-year follow-up period. To analyze the cost-effectiveness, adjustment was made on the cumulative costs for average event-free time and angina-free proportion. Respectively, for event-free survival and event plus angina-free survival, MT presented 3.79 quality-adjusted life-years and 2.07 quality-adjusted life-years; PCI presented 3.59 and 2.77 quality-adjusted life-years; and CABG demonstrated 4.4 and 2.81 quality-adjusted life-years. The event-free costs were $9071.00 for MT; $19 967.00 for PCI; and $18 263.00 for CABG. The paired comparison of the event-free costs showed that there was a significant difference favoring MT versus PCI (P<0.01) and versus CABG (P<0.01) and CABG versus PCI (P=0.01). The event-free plus angina-free costs were $16 553.00, $25 831.00, and $24 614.00, respectively. The paired comparison of the event-free plus angina-free costs showed that there was a significant difference favoring MT versus PCI (P=0.04), and versus CABG (P<0.001); there was no difference between CABG and PCI (P>0.05).

Conclusions—In the long-term economic analysis, for the prevention of a composite primary end point, MT was more cost effective than CABG, and CABG was more cost-effective than PCI.