The HollandPTC proton therapy HTA value proposition

Principal Investigators: Prof. dr. Mischa Hoogeman (HollandPTC) and dr. Hedwig Blommestein (HollandPTC, EUR)

PhD students: Judy Chen (EUR), Diego Larrotta-Castillo (EUR)

Funding: Medical Delta 2018

Description

Due to a very local dose deposition, proton therapy is expected to provide less dose to the surrounding normal tissues and therefore a significant reduction in (long term) side effects over current standard of care, photon therapy. Current investment costs (app.€100Mln) and treatment costs (double to photons) are high, whereas highest level of evidence of benefit is currently only level 4.

The HollandPTC-MD programme on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) value proposition appoints 2 PhD students to perform HTA for proton therapy. First of all, the cost structure of the proton center will be mapped. Next to this, the value proposition of proton therapy for head and neck and brain tumours will be determined. This HTA value proposition program will lead to a model to determine cost effectiveness of proton therapy for all future indications. HTA will be performed on several clinical indications and clinical introduction of various technical innovations.