The Timing and Probability of Treatment Switch under Cost Uncertainty: An Application to Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor

Under uncertainty and irreversibility, low-risk patients must begin the second-line treatment as soon as possible, which is precisely when the second-line treatment is least valuable. As the costs of reversing current treatment impacts fall, it becomes more feasible to provide the option-preserving treatment to these low-risk individuals later on.