Health technology assessment
03
Jul 2020
The Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII) in Spain analyzed the effectiveness and safety of the endovenous ablation of varicose saphenous veins with cyanoacrylate closure system in patients with moderate to severe chronic venous insufficiency compared to surgical procedures, as of saphenous vein stripping, and other endovenous ablation techniques. In the report, published on the website in 2020, it was outlined that despite the limitations found in selected studies, intravenous sealing with cyanoacrylates seems to be a promising alternative to existing treatments, especially in terms of less use of anesthesia and compression bandage, as well as shorter recovery time.
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30
Jun 2020
In early June 2020, the Austrian Ministry of Health published recommendations for further actions in the establishment of systematic HTA in the Austrian healthcare system, which were developed by the Federal Target Steering Commission in April.
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29
Jun 2020
The report summarizes information about HTA activity in 12 European countries (+EUnetHTA), including 51 HTA organizations. Data for all non-pharmaceutical published HTAs in 2019 are reported. In total, 256 reports are reported (in 2018, 337 reports were released by the same organizations). The largest number of reports were published in England (108 reports, 42%), Sweden (34 reports, 13%) and Spain (26 reports, 10%). All reports are classified using 31 technological groups. The most common types of technologies covered by HTA reports were in-vitro diagnostic (38 reports, 15%) and cardiovascular (25 reports, 10%) ones.
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23
Jun 2020
In 2019, the Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII) assessed the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in the treatment of fibromyalgia, peripheral vascular disease, neurological disease, and others. The report was published online in 2020. The previous assessment, performed in 2018, was related to the use of HBOT in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).
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22
Jun 2020
In the middle of May 2020, Västra Götaland HTA-Centre published an HTA on magnetic resonance image-guided radiotherapy in patients with cancer aiming to assess whether the studied method improves treatment results compared to current methods. It was concluded that the new technique might be associated with a higher proportion of treatment sessions reaching target coverage goals and a lower number of treatment sessions with violations of organs at risk constraints. However, the extent of improvement varied substantially between studies, and the certainty of the evidence is low.
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12
Jun 2020
In May 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published only two new Medtech innovation briefings (for cytokine adsorption devices for treating respiratory failure in people with COVID-19 and space from Depression (SilverCloud) for treating adults with depression).
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04
Jun 2020
The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) published the final report, in which it was studied whether wearing a lower jaw protrusion splint (Unterkieferprotrusionsschiene, UPS) is beneficial for obstructive sleep apnea. IQWiG issued the preliminary report in October 2019.
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05
May 2020
In April 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published only one new medical technologies guidance (for PneuX to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia) and two Medtech innovation briefings (for Lifelight First for monitoring vital signs and myCOPD for self-management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
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30
Apr 2020
On behalf of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) investigated whether a test of newborns for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in Germany would make sense. The affected children benefit from early diagnosis as this enables an earlier start of therapy.
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24
Apr 2020
In March 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published four new interventional procedure guidance (for bilateral cervicosacropexy or vaginosacropexy using mesh for pelvic organ prolapse, cyanoacrylate glue occlusion for varicose veins, MRI-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy and selective internal radiation therapy for unresectable colorectal metastases in the liver) and five Medtech innovation briefings (for Cor-Knot for tying suture knots in valve surgery, artificial intelligence for analyzing CT brain scans and others).
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17
Apr 2020
The HTA body of the Tuscany Regional Healthcare issues two types of documents: HTA forms and motivational forms. With a regional decree 3047 of March 2, 2020, Tuscany Regional Healthcare has published assessments of eight medical devices of various therapeutic areas.
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16
Apr 2020
Patients with a newly diagnosed glioblastoma will have an opportunity to benefit from the therapy with tumor-treating fields (TTF) at the expense of statutory health insurance. The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) decided on March 20, 2020, the details concerning the indications and the quality assurance measures that will apply when prescribing this outpatient treatment method.
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