Introduction

The title of this book, The economics of cancer care, raises important questions: Why are we interested in the economics of cancer care? And why are we especially interested now? This book will explore these two principal questions. First, it will review the current scientific literature on the economics of cancer care. The literature on the economics of cancer care is sparse and has received very little attention from the mainstream health economics field. Both the authors have reviewed the leading journals in the health economics and health policy field for the last 5 years. This has accrued 14,415 papers on the economics of cancer care since 1950, yet the subject remains noticeable by its absence in leading textbooks on cancer care. This compares with a total of over 16 million papers on cancer care and 85 million web sites on cancer. Only in a few specialised areas such as the cost-effectiveness of screening for breast cancer has there been much research.

Within health economics, most disease-specific work has been on the development of new drug therapies. The vast majority of the literature for the established programmes, especially in Europe, is generic and system-wide. The research has tended to focus on the cost-effectiveness of specific therapies with far less attention paid to the economics of choice at various stages of cancer treatment. However, there are fundamental reasons why the economic dimensions of cancer care need urgent attention.