OBJECTIVES

: Tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) is a rare, locally aggressive neoplasm of joints and tendon sheaths. The aim was to estimate the economic burden that TGCT causes across several European countries.

METHODS

: The TGCT Platform Project (TOPP) is an observational prospective study conducted in several countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, UK, France and Spain) on adult patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of diffuse TGCT, enrolled between November 2016 and March 2019. Patients were followed for two years, however, two time-points were considered: baseline (information recorded related to the prior 12 months) and 12 months follow-up. The entire societal impact was considered in this study; we evaluated the impact not only healthcare costs (hospitalizations, medical visits, surgery and radiotherapy), but also non-healthcare costs (social services and informal care) and productivity losses associated with the disease (reference year: 2019).

RESULTS

: 146 patients with TGCT were enrolled, although 137 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Mean age was 44.5 years and 62% were female. The annual average total costs associated with TGCT were 4,866€ in the 12 months before baseline and 5,160€ after 12 months of follow-up. The annual average healthcare costs associated with TGCT were 4,620€ before baseline (94.1% of the total cost); 66.5% and 18% attributed to surgery and outpatient visits, respectively. At follow-up, mean healthcare costs amounted to 5,094€ (98.7% of the total cost), with surgery representing 70% of total costs. Productivity losses represented, on average, 5% of the total costs before baseline and 1.3% at follow-up. Wide differences were observed between countries, with Germany reaching the higher mean total costs per person with TGCT at both time periods.

CONCLUSIONS

: This study demonstrates the considerably high healthcare costs among patients with TGCT in TOPP registry. Costs increased 12 months after the first TGCT claim, with three quarters of the costs covering surgery.