Using the example of substitution of peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC)
collection to bone marrow harvest for autologous transplantation in cancer
patients, our study attempts to illustrate how economic assessment, starting
at an early stage of medical innovation, can influence the development and
diffusion process of a new technological procedure whose optimal design has
not yet been established. Two cost minimization studies comparing costs for
obtaining a clinically reinfusable graft using bone marrow harvest or
alternatively various protocols of PBSC collection contributed to a change in
the French clinical standard for this procedure.
