The costs of human uterus transplantation: a study based on the nine cases of the initial Swedish live donor trial
2021 (English)In: Human Reproduction, ISSN 0268-1161, E-ISSN 1460-2350, Vol. 36, no 2, p. 358-366Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
STUDY QUESTION: What are the costs of live donor uterus transplantation in a European setting? SUMMARY ANSWER: The total costs for preoperative investigations, including IVF, and live donor uterus transplantation including postoperative costs for 2 months, were calculated to be (sic) 74 564 (mean), with the costs of recipient being somewhat higher than for donor and the cost components of total costs distributed between sick leave (25.7%), postoperative hospitalization (17.8%), surgery (17.1%), preoperative investigations (15.7%), anaesthesia (9.7%), drugs (7.8%), tests after surgery (4.0%) and for re-hospitalization (2.2%). WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Uterus transplantation has proved to be successful by demonstrations of live births, both after live donor and deceased donor procedures. The transplantation is considered as a complex and expensive infertility treatment. There exist no analyses of costs involved in uterus transplantation. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: This prospective cohort study included nine uterus transplantations procedures, performed in Sweden in 2013. Study duration of this health economic study included 6-12 months of pre-transplantation investigations and the time interval from transplantation to 2 months after. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Nine triads of uterus recipient, partner of recipient and uterus donor participated. All prospective recipients were in stable relationships and performed IVF with their partners before transplantation. The nine donors were relatives or family friends. The recipients and donors underwent pre-transplantation investigations with imaging, laboratory tests and psychological/medical screening prior to transplantation. Transplantation was by laparotomy in both donor and recipient. Standard immunosuppression and postoperative medication were used. After discharge from the hospital, the recipients were followed frequently with laboratory tests and examinations. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: The mean costs for preoperative investigations, including IVF, and live donor uterus transplantation with postoperative costs for 2 months, were calculated to be (sic)74 564 (range (sic) 50 960-(sic)99 658), from a societal perspective. The four largest components were cost of sick leave (sic) 19 164), cost of postoperative hospitalization (sic)13 246), surgery cost (sic)12 779) and costs for preoperative investigations, including IVF (sic) 11 739). Smaller components were costs for anaesthesia (sic) 7207), costs for drugs (sic) 5821), costs for post-surgical tests (sic) 2985) and costs for re-hospitalization (sic)1623). The costs of the recipient (sic) 42 984) were somewhat higher than the costs of the donor (sic) 31 580), but in terms of costs, they should be viewed as one entity. By using a health care perspective, excluding cost for productivity loss, the total costs would be reduced by 26%. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: A limitation is the restricted sample size and that this is in the experimental, clinical stage of development. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: The results provide the first information concerning the costs for pre-transplantation investigations and uterus transplantation procedures with postoperative follow-up. We consider the total estimate to be in the higher interval, because of the extensive research protocol. It is likely that the cost of live donor uterus transplantation will vary between countries and that the costs will be lower in a future clinical setting.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
OXFORD UNIV PRESS , 2021. Vol. 36, no 2, p. 358-366
Keywords [en]
uterus; transplantation; infertility; costs; health economic evaluation
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-175589DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deaa301ISI: 000637276000010PubMedID: 33247912OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-175589DiVA, id: diva2:1553586
Note
Funding Agencies|Jane and Dan Olsson Foundation for Science; Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research CouncilEuropean Commission; ALF grant from the Swedish state
2021-05-102021-05-102021-05-10