Cost Assessment of Pediatric Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Purpose: Evaluate the costs related to the pediatric haplo-SCT and adult and pediatric geno-SCT at the CNGMO in order to establish a tailored reimbursement package by the Tunisian Health Insurance Fund.

Patients and methods: This pharmaco-economic study compared the cost of pediatric haplo-SCT to adult and pediatric geno identical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (geno-SCT) using the activity-based costing method. The cost assessment was conducted from the hospital's perspective and considered direct medical and non-medical costs.

Results: The cost assessment indicated that pediatric patients incurred higher expenses than adult patients. Furthermore, haplo-SCT was more expensive than geno-SCT for pediatric patients. The conditioning regimens used before haplo-SCT are more intensive than other preparative regimens and typically require longer inpatient therefore resulting in more costs. Complications, such as infections during the early phase of neutropenia and late-onset issues following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), particularly graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation, significantly contribute to increased procedural costs.

Conclusion: This study sets the standards for new specific packages for haplo-SCT and geno-SCT in pediatric patients.