Every year in Italy there are 13 thousand women with breast cancer who could benefit from carrying out genomic tests, i.e. tests that investigate the molecular characteristics of the tumor and which are now fundamental for the selection of treatments.
This is what emerges from a document illustrated today in Rome for the national conference 'Next perspectives.
From the constellation of regional health systems to a new scenario of application of genomic tests in Italy', which underlines that the tests would be particularly useful in cases of early tumors positive for hormone receptors and HER2 negative at intermediate risk of recurrence or metastasis.
"All the scientific evidence has underlined how genomic tests are able to identify, with greater precision, women who can really benefit from chemotherapy and those for whom the benefits are absent", states the scientific director of the Rome event Francesco Cognetti, president of the ConFederation of Oncologists, Cardiologists and Hematologists (Foce), among the promoters of the day.
Two years ago, the Ministry of Health established how to use the fund for genomic testing for early-stage hormone-responsive breast cancer.
"It was a long-awaited provision which followed the allocation of 20 million euros for the purchase of exams decided months earlier by Parliament - recalls Cognetti - The provision indicated, among other things, also the categories of women with low or high risk and so-called uncertain cases".
Meanwhile, the diffusion of tests is growing, "but this does not yet happen regularly in our country. We sometimes see an underestimation, by some specialists, of the advantages induced by the tests", specifies Alessandra Fabi, national councilor of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (Aiom).
"It is clear that we need to promote them more with targeted educational activities and thus increase their use", concludes Fabi.
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