About the Authors

Ataru Igarashi

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Health Economics and Outcomes Research, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Midori Tanaka

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Keiichi Abe

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo, Japan

Lance Richard

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – original draft

lancer@Insightec.com

Affiliation INSIGHTEC Ltd, Tirat Carmel, Israel

Vivian Peirce

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Costello Medical Consulting, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Kazumichi Yamada

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Neurosurgery, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Competing Interests

Ataru Igarashi – received financial support for this work through research grants from INSIGHTEC Ltd, Israel. Has also received research grants outside this research from Pfizer Japan Inc; Intuitive Surgical Inc; Taiho Yakuhin Inc; Boston Scientific Inc; SONY Inc; Incitec Japan Inc; Milliman Inc; Gilead Sciences KK; Terumo Inc; Fuji Film Inc; Omnica Co, Ltd and CSL Boering Inc. Received compensation for invited lectures and served as an advisor for Novartis Pharma Japan Inc; Pfizer Japan Inc; Sanofi Japan Inc; Novo Nordisk Japan Inc; Abbvie GK and Ono Pharma Inc. Midori Tanaka – none. Keiichi Abe – none. Lance Richard – employee of INSIGHTEC Ltd (the funder of this study); involved in the decision to publish this manuscript, preparation of this manuscript (original draft preparation only) and study design, but had no influence on the data collection and analysis involved in generating model results. Vivian Peirce – employee of Costello Medical Consulting Ltd; involved in data analysis and preparation of the manuscript (original draft preparation and review & editing), but had no influence on the study design, data collection or the decision to publish. Kazumichi Yamada – none. Individuals mentioned in acknowledgements (not authors) Molly Atkinson – employee of Costello Medical Consulting Ltd; provided medical writing assistance and editorial assistance in preparing the manuscript for publication, based on the authors’ input and direction. Natalie Hearmon – employee of Costello Medical Consulting Ltd; provided model programming assistance in response to changes requested by the peer reviewers. Overall, the competing interests as specified above do not alter our adherence to PLOS One policies on sharing data and materials. Furthermore, the above competing interest statement provides a complete and specific description of the involvement of INSIGHTEC Ltd and Costello Medical Consulting Ltd, as no other individuals from either company were involved in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.