The Cost Effectiveness of Hand Held Ultrasound Scanning for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in Older Males with a History of Smoking

Objective: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a serious illness occurring in 1 of 20 older men. Guidelines emphasize the role of ultrasound scanning for patients at risk of AAA, yet the cost effectiveness of such scanning remains uncertain. New pocket mobile echocardiography (PME) devices may enhance the cost effectiveness of such scanning due to its low cost, ability to be used in primary care settings, and high degree of accuracy. This study performs cost utility analyses (CUAs) comparing opportunistic scanning for AAA using a PME to usual care for a hypothetical cohort of 10,000 male smokers age 65+. Methods: The study compares the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained for three alternative strategies over a 5-year time horizon. The study used a decision analytic simulation model to calculate the incremental cost utility for the different strategies. Three alternative criteria for surgical intervention were considered via scanning according to aneurysm size. These treatment strategies were compared to a control group that received no scanning. Model input values are taken from the literature. Sensitivity analysis was performed to gauge the robustness of the results. Results: Opportunistic scanning is cost effective. Indeed, when surgical intervention is limited to medium (5.0-5.4 cm) or large (≥5.5 cm) aneurysms, such scanning is dominant; that is, it costs less and increases QALYs compared to usual care. When surgical intervention is extended to small (4.0-4.9 cm) aneurysms, scanning remains cost effective ($64,156 per QALY vs. $100,000 threshold). The results are robust to alternative plausible model input values. Conclusion: These findings suggest that primary care physicians with proper training should consider PMEs as a cost effective method to opportunistically scan and manage AAA patients among older males who have a history of smoking.