The economic impact of cytoreductive surgery and tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in the treatment of advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours: A Markov chain decision analysis

Costs of surgical intervention at different time-points within the treatment course of patients with advanced GIST fluctuate within a relatively narrow range, suggesting that costs arise primarily from the administration of TKI. The decision to pursue cytoreductive surgery should not be based on cost alone. Future studies should incorporate health-state utilities when available.