ArticleBMJ open2018
Health economic evaluation of a serum-based blood test for brain tumour diagnosis: exploration of two clinical scenarios.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Interventions to reduce the time to diagnosis of brain tumours.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Development of high-throughput ATR-FTIR technology for rapid triage of brain cancer.Nature communications · 2019Trial
- Urine and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for early glioma detection: a systematic review.Diagnostic and prognostic research · 2026Review
- A multi-centre performance evaluation of a commercially developed liquid biopsy for the earlier detection of brain tumours.ESMO open · 2026Observational
- From Lab to Clinic: Artificial Intelligence with Spectroscopic Liquid Biopsies.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The Promise of Infrared Spectroscopy in Liquid Biopsies for Solid Cancer Detection.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The Perils of Molecular Interpretations from Vibrational Spectra of Complex Samples.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2024Review
- Article
- Rapid Classification of Serum from Patients with Paracoccidioidomycosis Using Infrared Spectroscopy, Univariate Statistics, and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA).Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Advances in Mass Spectrometry of Gangliosides Expressed in Brain Cancers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- FTIR Spectroscopy and Blood-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Duo in Alzheimer's Disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Article
- Liquid biopsies: the future of cancer early detection.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Review
- Discovering Glioma Tissue through Its Biomarkers' Detection in Blood by Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning.Pharmaceutics · 2023Article
- Pre-diagnostic blood biomarkers for adult glioma.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Review
- Article
- Infrared molecular fingerprinting of blood-based liquid biopsies for the detection of cancer.eLife · 2021Article
- Article
- Early diagnosis of brain tumours using a novel spectroscopic liquid biopsy.Brain communications · 2021Article
- Stratifying Brain Tumour Histological Sub-Types: The Application of ATR-FTIR Serum Spectroscopy in Secondary Care.Cancers · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo determine the potential costs and health benefits of a serum-based spectroscopic triage tool for brain tumours, which could be developed to reduce diagnostic delays in the current clinical pathway.
designA model-based health pre-trial economic assessment. Decision tree models were constructed based on simplified diagnostic pathways. Models were populated with parameters identified from rapid reviews of the literature and clinical expert opinion.
settingExplored as a test in both primary and secondary care (neuroimaging) in the UK health service, as well as application to the USA.
participantsCalculations based on an initial cohort of 10 000 patients. In primary care, it is estimated that the volume of tests would approach 75 000 per annum. The volume of tests in secondary care is estimated at 53 000 per annum.
main outcome measuresThe primary outcome measure was quality-adjusted life-years (QALY), which were employed to derive incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) in a cost-effectiveness analysis.
resultsResults indicate that using a blood-based spectroscopic test in both scenarios has the potential to be highly cost-effective in a health technology assessment agency decision-making process, as ICERs were well below standard threshold values of £20 000-£30 000 per QALY. This test may be cost-effective in both scenarios with test sensitivities and specificities as low as 80%; however, the price of the test would need to be lower (less than approximately £40).
conclusionUse of this test as triage tool in primary care has the potential to be both more effective and cost saving for the health service. In secondary care, this test would also be deemed more effective than the current diagnostic pathway.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.