Systematic review of cost effectiveness intraoperative radiation therapy compares with external beam radiation therapy in breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths and among women worldwide. For a large proportion of women with early localized breast cancer, the recommended treatment is breast-conserving surgery followed by postoperative radiotherapy, whole breast external-beam radiation therapy, which requires daily therapy. The purpose of this study is to analyses the cost-effectiveness of intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) compares with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for early-stage breast cancer. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines used in this study. We search all articles from June 30, 2000, to June 30, 2022, in PubMed, Cochrane, ProQuest, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing, Allied Health Literature and non-English articles were excluded. We included cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, and cost-benefit analysis. This study included 1750 published studies, ten studies were entirely met the inclusion criteria. In six studies, IORT was associated with lower costs and higher effectiveness than EBRT. Inconclusion, IORT can be a potential cost-saving strategy to the health systems for the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer.