ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: A pre-plasma exchange ADAMTS13 measurement differentiates thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) from other forms of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). Given that many hospitals do not perform the ADAMTS13 assay in-house and that the turnaround time (TAT) differs among reference laboratories, we performed an analysis investigating the potential impact of a delay in obtaining the results on the healthcare system. METHODS: An economic model was developed to estimate the impact of a delay in obtaining the pretreatment ADAMTS13 results on patients admitted with TMA with cost (US dollars) as the primary outcome. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) as a composite outcome was calculated from both cost and life days [LDs], an effectiveness surrogate marker. Model parameters were gathered from the medical literature, except for the institutional cost of the ADAMTS13 test. RESULTS: In patients with TMA, during the 6-day study period, the incremental cost to the healthcare system ranged from approximately $4155 to $5123 for every 1-day delay in obtaining the pre-exchange ADAMTS13 results with virtually no change in the effectiveness marker. The ICER composite outcome established the cost-effectiveness of having a fast TAT for pre-exchange ADAMTS13 results. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses also confirmed the robustness of the model. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with clinical presentations of TMAs, having a rapid TAT for pre-exchange ADAMTS13 measurement appeared to be cost-effective. If testing cannot be performed in-house, then our findings support the necessity of contracting with a reference laboratory that can reliably provide the result, preferably within 1 day of admission.
