Cost-effectiveness analysis of 68GA-NODAGA-EXENDIN-4 PET/CT for localizing insulinomas

Thesis is aimed at determining the cost-effectiveness of a Dutch care pathway that incorporates 68GANODAGA-EXENDIN-4 PET/CT (from now on referred to as Exendin), a newly developed medical imaging technique for localizing insulinomas. Insulinomas are neuroendocrine tumors that can form in the pancreatic beta cells and are the main cause of a condition called adult endogenous hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (AHH). Current imaging techniques are e.g. CT, MRI and DOTA. Exendin has a better accuracy, but is more expensive than current imaging techniques and during this thesis I will attempt to determine if a care pathway incorporating Exendin is more cost-effective at the relevant willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold in the Netherlands. The cost-effectiveness will be determined by finding the average net monetary benefit (NMB) at the relevant Dutch WTP of the current care pathway and of four care pathway variants incorporating Exendin.