Preliminary analysis of chemotherapy waste cost

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Frequently, there are chemotherapy wastes in drug´s preparation for application to the patient. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was analyzing chemotherapy waste cost at the drug´s preparation. METHODS: It has been conducted a cross-sectional observational study. The study data were obtained from chemotherapy’s requests by oncologists linked to a health insurance plan. It has been calculated the dose of chemotherapy waste in each application, considering the dose prescribed by the doctor and the drug´s dosage form. RESULTS: There were 176 patients with cancer diagnosed of which 106 patients underwent treatment with chemotherapy. There were 1.284 applications for anticancer medications. It was found a total of 63.824 mg chemotherapy waste. The chemotherapy waste cost found was R$ 448.397,00. The average cost of chemotherapy waste for patient was R$ 4.607,00 and R$ 380,00 for application´s day. CONCLUSION: The economic impact of chemotherapy waste in cancer treatment was significant. The management measures at chemotherapy preparation may be a strategy to reduce the drugs waste.