Corm, the oncological research center of the Marche, which has just been inaugurated in Ancona, wants to respond to a challenge: that of cancer treatment which, today, is becoming more and more complex. Because he has to deal with increasingly sophisticated and difficult to manage therapies. With new patient needs, including quality of life. With health care that, also thanks to the Covid pandemic, needs to be rethought. With rising healthcare costs that need to be optimized. With the new opportunities offered by technology, telemedicine and artificial intelligence. And with an eye to scientific research, which must never be forgotten.
Hospital-Universit
After four years of work with the Ospedali Riuniti University Hospital of Ancona and with the Marche Polytechnic University and thanks to the support of many benefactors, companies, associations such as Marcangola (the forum of voluntary associations of the Marche, ed), the Corm took off said, during the presentation of the new center, Rossana Berardi, full professor of Oncology at the University and director of the Oncology Clinic of Ospedali Riuniti in Ancona, one of the most important souls of this project, together with Michele Caporossi, Director General of the United Hospitals of Ancona
The landslide of 1982
The history of Corm begins from afar: the new Center represents the 4.0 evolution of the ancient Oncological Institute of Ancona, one of the four Italian Oncological Institutes at the time (it was 1982) when it was destroyed by a landslide. To make up for that loss, a series of oncology centers were born in the Marche region that have now been networked and form an integral part of the Corm project. Let’s talk about “geography of care” – comments Michele Caporossi – This regional network has now found a point of reference in the Corm. But from this network, from the collaboration of oncologists in the area and also of general practitioners that we think we can obtain data that, thanks to artificial intelligence, will be able to rewrite the oncological treatments of the future. And maybe even rationalize the costs of healthcare.
Breast Unit
In fact, another cornerstone of Corm are the so-called “Units”, integrated care units: some already exist at the Ospedali Riuniti, such as the Breast Cancer Breat Unit, directed by Rossana Berardi. “In other words – specifies Caporossi – they are units that provide for the presence of multidisciplinary teams, formed by various specialists, who not only have the task of discussing patient care plans, but also of measuring how effective they have been in practice and how many costs did they involve “. Three other strengths of the center are: the telemedicine platform, the “molecular tumor board” and access to experimental studies. Berardi says: “We have built a telemedicine platform, accessible to doctors who will be able to request opinions from the experts of the center.
Molecular tumor board
And, for example, check the possibility that their patients can access “segments of care” at our center, when these are so sophisticated that they are not practicable on the territory. He adds about the “molecular tumor board”: There are patients with difficult or rare tumors for which it is necessary to map the tumor genes in search of new possibilities of treatment: at Corm we can do it. And as regards experimental research on new therapies: “Corm is the first center of reference in the middle Adriatic for phase one studies on new treatments, that is, those that are carried out in the laboratory and not yet on patients”.
Women for oncology
Last but not least: Rossana Berardi is also the newly elected President of the Women for Oncology Association (W4O) who not only wants to promote the role of women-doctors in oncology, but also consider gender for patients: at Ospedali Riuniti of Ancona has created the Pink Rooms, pink rooms (literally because they are painted in this color) designed to accommodate women with breast cancer. And make them feel at ease, “de-hospitalizing” the context.