Value of Information Analysis Used to Determine the Necessity of Additional Research: MR Imaging in Acute Knee Trauma as an Example

Abstract

The optimal study design for use of MR imaging to evaluate acute knee trauma involves a trial in which there are 3500 patients per trial arm, and data on the number of quality-adjusted life-years, cost of an overnight hospital stay, and friction costs are collected.

Suspected Carotid Artery Stenosis: Cost-effectiveness of CT Angiography in Work-up of Patients with Recent TIA or Minor Ischemic Stroke

“…We calculated the probability that a certain strategy was cost effective compared with other strategies with varying WTP thresholds and present acceptability curves. The expected value of perfect information (EVPI) (simulation with 1000 samples) was calculated to assess the value of performing further research ( 35 ). The population EVPI was calculated for the European Union by assuming an annual absolute stroke incidence of 1 million among women and 1 million among men and considering 5 years ( 36,37 ).…”

Sample Size Estimation for Non-Inferiority Trials: Frequentist Approach versus Decision Theory Approach

“…[11–14] Several studies applied the decision theory approach to a health care decision problem. [15–23] These studies all focused on superiority trails. In our opinion, the decision theory approach of sample size estimation will be even more valuable for non-inferiority trials, because in the decision theory approach not only the main therapeutic effect, but also costs and other health consequences are taken into account.…”

Value-of-Information Analysis to Guide Future Research in Colorectal Cancer Screening

“…This result indicates that, if policy-makers plan to eliminate all uncertainty regarding this decision, they could expect a societal financial benefit of more than $15 billion, which is equivalent to a societal health benefit of 152 912 lifeyears. The expected societal benefit from further research on CRC screening should be compared with the expected societal benefit of other unrelated proposed clinical research projects to set research priorities (13)(14)(15). Of note, the present EVPI is substantially higher than that calculated for other diseases, such as cardiovascular prevention or prostatecancer treatment (45)(46)(47).…”

“…Value-of-information analysis is a method that expands on cost-effectiveness analysis and can be used to determine whether more research is justified in regard to a medical decision (13,14). With the expected value of perfect information (EVPI), one can estimate the value of removing all uncertainty related to the decision problem, and the EVPI represents the upper limit of the amount the decision maker should be willing to pay to eliminate all uncertainty in the decision.…”

“…With the partial EVPI, one can estimate the value of removing uncertainty related to a subset of the input parameters relevant to the decision. Value-of-information calculations are used to quantify uncertainty, identify key uncertain parameters, and inform the planning and prioritizing of future research (13,14).…”