ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Metastatic breast cancer cases grow in Italy. At the moment there are more than 55 thousand women living with a previous diagnosis, a number that also reflects the progress of research and therapies, which today allow a growing number of patients to live longer with the disease. This evolution also poses new challenges on the front of assistance and makes it even more necessary to ensure dedicated, integrated and continuous gripping paths. This is the call of Europa Donna Italia on the occasion of the National Day of Awareness for Tumore al Seno Metastatico of 13 October.
“Today more than ever – says Rosanna D’Antona, president of Europa Donna Italia – we consider it a priority to draw attention to the health institutions on the need to ensure in the breast centers specific gripping paths for women who live with the most advanced form of breast cancer. A multidisciplinary assistance must be ensured to all of them, in which the plurality of specialist treatments is integrated into a single treatment path.”
“We also want to emphasize – he adds – that multidisciplinaryity cannot be limited to meetings where the most appropriate treatment is decided for the individual patient: it is necessary that the different specialists collaborate over time, taking into account the complexity of the pathology and the evolution of needs. In addition to oncological therapies, assistance, psychological support, nursing, rehabilitation, nutrition and palliatives must be guaranteed, according to the needs of each woman.”
“The tumor of the metastatic breast is currently a profoundly different oncological condition than what clinical practice was called to manage only a few decades ago – says Giuseppe Curigliano, Director of the Development Division of New Drugs at the IEEO and Doctor of Medical Oncology at the DIPO of the State University of Milan -. The availability of endocrine therapies, anti-HER2, immunotherapy, drug-conjugated antibodies, cyclic inhibitors and numerous other molecular target strategies has altered the natural history of the disease. More and more women live for prolonged periods with a form of cancer that, in most cases, remains unhealthy but treatable. The aim of the cure cannot therefore coincide only with the prolongation of survival, but includes the control of the disease, the prevention and treatment of symptoms and the maintenance of a good quality of life”.
From listening to about 190 patients’ associations with breast cancer that make up the network of Europa Donna Italia, it emerges that in the centers of breastology the foundations are there, but remains a fragmented picture on the territory. Europa Donna Italia recalls the need for all Breast Units to comply with national guidelines and international recommendations, applying quality indicators specific to advanced breast cancer, developed by organisms such as EUSOMA and ESMO. Among these, there is also the volume of activity of the centers – EUSOMA recommends at least 50 new cases a year – to consolidate the skills and mature an adequate experience in managing a complex pathology. Ensure in breast centers, in addition to dedicated paths, standard of shared quality, means making sure that each patient can receive appropriate and specialized care, regardless of where he lives.
To give voice to women with metastatic breast cancer and promote information and awareness, this year the network of associations of Europe Donna Italia has organized over 150 events throughout Italy. Senological visits, awareness-raising meetings, walking, pedalling, paying, theatre shows, flash mob and cultural initiatives will involve local communities, while from north to south a myriad of monuments, historic buildings, institutional buildings will enlightwill inspire pink-fuchsia, the symbol color of the Day: Palazzo del Podestà in Bologna, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, il Campidoglio in Rome, il Male Angioino in Naples, Piazza del Duomo in Catania, just to name a few.
At sunset, the facade of Palazzo Montecitorio will be illuminated by fuchsia, thanks to the initiative of Europa Donna Italia and the lighting granted by the Chamber of Deputies. A gesture of symbolic value, which brings Day to the heart of national institutions and contributes to giving visibility to women who live in Italy with metastatic disease.
– photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
