title: Cost-effectiveness of stress echocardiography and nuclear perfusion imaging.
abstract: Cost-effectiveness analysis is a method of comparing societal economic value of 2 different strategies. Ideally, it defines accurate test-related (direct and downstream) costs and appropriately converts differential patient outcomes into a dollar value. The likelihood that cost-effectiveness analysis translated into a policy-making tool will enhance health care and/or control costs is dependent on the validity of numerous assumptions about relative costs, patient outcomes, and generalizability of the literature to regional capabilities. The purpose of this report is to review the concept of cost-effectiveness analysis as it applies to stress echocardiography and stress myocardial perfusion imaging for selected patient subsets.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Consultants, PC, Mid-America Heart Institute, University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Chee
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Bateman
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000191:economics*; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics*; D015635:Radionuclide Ventriculography / Q000191:economics*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods