Decision and cost analysis in acoustic neuroma diagnosis.

Demonstrating improved outcomes and cost containment are current health care imperatives. For many diseases, competing diagnostic tests are available. Each has a direct economic cost and indirect costs based on missed disease. It is often difficult to determine the most efficient testing strategy for a given patient. Clinical Decision Analysis can optimise diagnostic strategies to maximise cost-effectiveness. Analytic techniques are developed to allow analysis of diagnostic strategies that include multi-test protocols. The test parameters required for modelling these strategies are derived from a literature analysis.