The PittaRosso Pink Parade, in support of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, will be held on Sunday 3 October, in Milan or in digital broadcast mode. The funds raised for research on female cancer
Mammography, Pap smear or Hpv-Dna test and examination for the search for occult blood in the stool save thousands of lives every year because they allow to detect the presence of a tumor in the early stages, when it is easier to cure and the chances of healing are greater. Due to the Covid pandemic, however, screening programs in 2020 came to a sudden halt: estimates indicate over two million skipped examinations and delays of months accumulated with the risk that, in the coming months and years, a diagnosis of cancer will be reached at a much more advanced stage, compromising many of the successes obtained in recent decades. What to do? If on the one hand, at the institutional level, a rapid reorganization and resumption of screening is urged so as not to accumulate further slowdowns, on the other hand each of us can do one simple thing – remember Paolo Veronesi, president of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation -: pay even more attention to possible alarm bells and do not waste precious time if you notice something strange.
The event on October 3
Prevention and support for research in the fight against female cancers are the backbone of the planned event Sunday 3 October all over Italy: la PittaRosso Pink Parade, a walk that raises funds for the Pink is Good project of the Veronesi Foundation, traditionally organized in October, a month dedicated all over the world to raising awareness on breast cancer. This year there are two different ways to participate, in Milan or in widespread digital mode. The live event is back in the Lombard capital, in a slightly reduced version and with a limited number of people, with the utmost respect for all measures to contain the Covid19 emergency: departure, in three different time brackets, always from Piazza del Cannone, and with mandatory green pass. While in the rest of Italy it will be possible to intervene, alone or in a group, and with a special kit it will be possible to express support for research and share on social networks with the hashtag # PPP2021. The first 10 thousand subscribers (information and registration on www.pittarossopinkparade.it) will be entitled to the Pink kit with t-shirt and gadgets offered by the partners. The funds raised are intended to support the Pink is Good project for research on female cancer, those of the breast, uterus and ovary. Objective: to finance excellent scientific research and raise public awareness, including onimportance of physical activity, one of the fundamental aspects of prevention.
The best ways to diagnose breast cancer
With 55,000 new cases diagnosed in 2020 in Italy, breast cancer is the most widespread among women and despite the many advances, it remains the leading cause of death from cancer among Italians. Thanks to scientific research, today 87% of patients live 5 years after diagnosis, but what can be done to get even better? Aiming at early diagnosis and improving it – replies Veronesi, who is also director of the surgical breast division at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan -. Thanks to screening with mammography (to which Italian women between 50 and 69 are invited free of charge every two years) we have saved millions of lives because diagnosing tumors promptly allows them to be treated in a less invasive and less expensive way and to reduce mortality. But we can do more, better: this is why the Veronesi Foundation supports lo Studio P.I.N.K. (Prevention, Imaging, Network and Knowledge), which investigates the best forms of breast cancer diagnostics (mammography, ultrasound, tomosynthesis or a combination of them), customizing them according to the characteristics of each woman, her risk profile, taking into account clinical parameters, familiarity and style of life. What are the other objectives to be achieved? Finding new effective treatments to prevent or slow down the onset of metastases, especially in those forms of cancer (breast, but also of the uterus and ovary) that are from the beginning more aggressive – replies the expert -. And improve the survival, gaining years and quality of life, of women with advanced cancer. The best scientists in the world work on this, including those funded by us.
Integrate mammography with other exams
Statistics in hand, one in eight women in Italy will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Almost 90% of those who get sick, however, can aspire to recovery. For the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, the goal is to get closer to an ideal horizon of 100%. Like? To make the difference, in most cases, early diagnosis – he answers Monica Ramaioli, general manager of the Foundation -. This is why we finance the PINK study (Prevention, Imaging, Network and Knowledge), promoted by the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the National Research Council, which aims to optimize secondary prevention paths with the most effective tools that research and precision medicine can offer. And promoting prevention and healthy lifestyles, decisive against tumors. The study was launched in 2018 and involves 15 centers in Italy with the aim of recruiting 50 thousand women in five years. In June 2021, almost 26,500 patients were examined and the first partial analyzes show that the integration of mammography with other imaging modalities allowed an increase in diagnostic accuracy by 35.5%. This year the studio will be expanded with a nutritional survey (to evaluate new correlations between lifestyle and risk of specific forms of cancer) and an analysis of the radiation used, for an evaluation of the costs and benefits of any damage caused by radiation compared to greater diagnostic precision and timeliness.
Covid vaccine: cancer patients must do it
The Covid pandemic has left us, as a positive legacy, the awareness of how crucial scientific research is for global health. And the strategic role of the prevention: the vaccine against the Sars-CoV-2 virus is a prime example of how the most serious and deadly consequences of the infection can be avoided. How important is it that cancer patients get the Covid vaccine? A lot, because cancer patients are those who risk the most if they become infected – concludes Veronesi -. The conference of the European Society of Oncology has just ended, bringing together the leading experts in the world and where the most recent data on the subject have been presented: the vaccine in patients with safe and effective cancer, run no higher risk than the rest of the population. And for everyone, especially for those who are immunosuppressed (as happens during and after certain anti-cancer treatments) the third dose is very useful: strengthens the immune response and protects more and better.
Support scientific research
The purpose of our activity is the progress of science – underlines Ramaioli -, which means for us support the daily work that the best scientists do and make sure that their discoveries are, as quickly as possible, available to all. In addition to funding research on many types of cancer (including pediatric), the Foundation is committed to sulla nutrigenomica which aims to discover the interactions between DNA and nutrition to understand how food can act, for better or for worse, on our genes. In Italy – concludes Ramaioli – about 1.4% of GDP is invested in scientific research. A negligible percentage if compared to that of other countries that dedicate up to two or three times more than us. We are also the country that has fewer stabilized personnel aimed at research: fewer than 5 researchers per thousand employed against over 9 per thousand in France and Germany. Yet we are among the best in Europe for the quality and quantity of studies and experiments. This is due to the excellence of the universities, but also the role played by foundations, like ours, and associations that intervene where the public system does not reach, also counts.
October 1, 2021 (change October 1, 2021 | 09:10)
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