Table 2.

Important definitions

QALY	Quality-adjusted life year, referring to the number of quality life years accumulated by a patient. If a patient was on treatment (with no toxicity or progression) for the entire simulated year, then QALY = 1; if a patient died during the first month, then QALY = 0; if a patient experienced toxicity or progression, then QALY will range between 0 and 1
Cost	The accumulated cost based on the treatment received
CER	Cost effectiveness ratio, i.e., the ratio of the average cost relative to the average QALY; essentially, this quantity represents the cost (in USD) required to achieve 1 quality-of-life year
ICER	Incremental cost effectiveness ratio, which represents the incremental cost of providing 1 additional QALY for one treatment versus another
Toxicity rate	The percentage of simulated patients that experienced a toxicity at some point during treatment
Average survival	The average survival time (in months) after the simulated year