Health technology assessment

In May 2018, the French National Authority of Health, HAS, has published an update of the assessment of coronary stents.

On 3rd of October, 2018, the Italian Agency for Regional Healthcare Services, AGENAS, announced on their website that the reviewer volunteers are needed for reviewing the reports that should be published soon.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published HTA of meniscal allograft transplantation for post-meniscectomy syndrome in Austria. It was concluded that there is not enough evidence demonstrating benefits in order to include MAT into the Austrian benefit catalogue.

In mid-September 2018, the Andalusian HTA agency, AETSA, published a report in which they assessed the safety and effectiveness of the cardiopoietic stem cells therapy of secondary heart failure to myocardial ischemia.

EUnetHTA is a network of HTA bodies within Europe that promote the development of health technology assessment in all European countries by working together. This article will present the plans for the projects that will be published in the near future.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published HTA of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells for Crohn’s disease-associated complex perianal fistulas. Currently, inclusion into Austrian catalogue of benefits was not recommended with reevaluation in 2022.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published an evaluation of baroreceptor activation therapy for treatment-resistant hypertension. The authors concluded that there is no sufficient evidence to conclude on effectiveness or safety of BAT and thus inclusion of the procedure into the Austrian benefit catalogue is not recommended. There are currently three RCTs going on, and their results may bring new evidence.

On the 14th of August of 2018, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has published a health technology assessment report in relation to autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) comparing with standard treatment for patients with systemic sclerosis. The results have shown that the transplant‐related mortality after AHSCT is high, but risk of organ failure and death is lower after two years follow‐up and beyond compared to standard treatment, AHSCT provides a significant improvement of skin involvement and lung function measured by forced vital capacity compared to standard treatment with cyclophosphamide injections.

In mid-August 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI), has published an evaluation of efficacy and safety of carbon ion beam radiotherapy (CIRT) for twelve oncological indications.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) has published an assessment of left atrial appendage closure to prevent stroke to determine national coverage of the procedure. Considering this evidence, the authors do not recommend the inclusion in the hospital benefit catalogue, neither for percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion nor for surgical closure using a special clip.

In the second half of July, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published five new Interventional Procedure Guidance for low-intensity pulsed ultrasound to promote healing of fresh fractures at low risk of non-healing, fresh fractures at high risk of non-healing, superior capsular augmentation for massive rotator cuff tears, transaxial interbody lumbosacral fusion for severe chronic low back pain and two new Medtech Innovation Briefings for remote ECG interpretation consultancy services for cardiovascular disease and mechanical thrombectomy devices for acute ischaemic stroke.

On 20th of July, 2018, the Austrian HTA body, the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute (LBI) released an assessment of the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator to determine coverage of the service. Authors concluded that evidence is insufficient to make conclusions about the comparative effectiveness of subcutaneous and transvenous ICDs. However, a substantially lower risk for lead complications in patients treated with subcutaneous ICD.