Review: demand for radiotherapyEstimating the demand for radiotherapy from the evidence: A review of changes from 2003 to 2012
Section snippets
Materials and methods
The methodology for this updated review is based on that used in our original review of optimal radiotherapy utilisation [2] and is outlined in brief below.
The study population included all cancer cases notified to Australian Central Cancer Registries as reported by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) in Australia in 2008 (the most recently available year) [22]. An indication for radiotherapy was defined as a clinical situation for which radiotherapy is recommended as the
Results
The optimal RUR by tumour site calculated in 2003 and the revised rates calculated in 2012 are shown in Table 1, which also reports the number of changes to the radiotherapy indications for each cancer site. The overall optimal RUR for all registered cancers in Australia changed from 52.3% in 2003 to 48.3% in 2012.
The 2012 optimal RUR decreased by more than 5% compared to the optimal rate estimated in 2003 for cancers of the bladder, brain, colon, kidney, oesophagus, pancreas, stomach, uterus,
Discussion
This update of our original model was undertaken to inform planning models for future radiotherapy services. The revised optimal RUR calculated in 2012 was 48.3% as compared to the original rate of 52.3% calculated in 2003. The reduction in the optimal utilisation rate was caused by changes in epidemiological data, changes in radiotherapy recommendations and structural changes to the model.
The factors that accounted for maximum variability in the model were the uncertainty in the choice between
Conflict of interest statement
All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, Australia. The work of Timothy P. Hanna was funded in part by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research through funding provided by the Government of Ontario.
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