OBJECTIVES: This scoping review aims to provide researchers insight into published economic evaluations, to support the market access and reimbursement decisions related to melanoma in the past decade.

METHODS: A scoping review based on PRISMA-ScR methodology was conducted. The search for articles was based on Pubmed from 2000 to June 2024. We assessed health care costs, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit, budget impact analyses.

RESULTS: 88 studies were included of which 57 studies on systemic treatment, 13 on diagnosis, 6 on screening, 5 on surveillance, 4 on prevention, 1 on hospice, 1 on follow-up strategy, and 1 on psycho-educational intervention. Almost half of the studies (41/88) from North America, more than a quarter of the studies (29/88) from Europe, 2 studies from China. Since 2019 publications have highlighted advances in isolated or combined targeted therapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, oncolytic viral immunotherapy, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapy, bispecific fusion protein, radiotherapy and electrochemotherapy. Most CEA studies of treatments utilized Markov cohort - or partitioned survival models and adopted a healthcare system perspective. Diagnosis options included histopathologic-, various imaging technologies-, endoscopies and gene sequencing and expressions tests. Further evaluations on screening included: Type (skin examination, self-assessment tool); frequency; start time, whilst also considering the suspended situation during Covid-19. Reported surveillance interventions were all conducted in people with high risk. Prevention included personalized genomic risk provision, sun protection, public education program and banning the use of tanning bed by adolescents. Hospice for 4 or more days and reduced follow-up strategy were described as cost effective, whilst psycho-educational intervention targeted on fear of cancer recurrence was concluded as not cost effective.

CONCLUSIONS: This health economics studies assessment on melanoma has shown that screening, surveillance, and prevention interventions were most likely to be concluded as cost-effectiveness. Increased research in China is appreciated to promote rational drug use and enhance patient outcomes.