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Figure 4 : Proportions of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2
Source : goetzpartners Research , National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service 2018
A stage 4 diagnosis is often > 100 % more expensive than a stage 1 diagnosis
More accurate early diagnosis leads to more cost-benefit The treatment of cancer is cheaper the earlier it is diagnosed , with a vast difference between the cost of treatment in the first year between stage 1 and stage 4 in ( Figure 5 ). In addition , there are indirect cost benefits from a reduction in mortality . Regardless of the stage at diagnosis , cancer patients will need screening after treatment and despite requiring screening for longer early-stage costs are offset by the decreased likelihood of requiring further treatment .
Figure
5 : Cost of treatment in the 1 st year post-diagnosis in the USA
Source : ( Reddy , et al ., 2021 ).
Inaccurate tests lead to wasted costs While the cost-benefit of early diagnosis and therefore treatment is obvious , this requires tests with a high degree of accuracy . False positives can lead to more expensive follow-up investigations such as biopsies . In the case of false positive mammograms in the USA , this has been estimated to cost the country $ 4bn per year ( Ong & Mandl , 2015 ). The PSA test is particularly inaccurate with as many as 70 % of positives being false and more accurate screening methods are needed . While tests in development are improving the accuracy is not there yet for example the Galleri test has a sensitivity of 76 %.
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