Patient out-of-pocket costs for suspicious pulmonary nodule biopsy in lung cancer patients.

The median OOPC for lung cancer patient requiring a single diagnostic lung biopsy is $600. Prior research indicates that almost 50% of the lung cancer patient population undergoes multiple biopsies increasing costs anywhere between 20% and 100% resulting in further patient financial burden for each episodic biopsy attempt. Further cost-effectiveness research is needed to differentiate various diagnostic technologies for lung biopsy.