(by Manuela Correra) (ANSA) – ROME, 07 APR – A “complex” picture due to various factors and with a risk of complications. According to specialists, Silvio Berlusconi’s clinical situation is characterized by various elements and for this reason treatment in a highly specialized structure is important, with the availability of innovative therapies.
Berlusconi’s clinical picture is “complex due to various factors: the pathology in progress, the other pathologies present and the age factor, and this exposes him to the risk of complications”, Claudio Cerchione, hematologist at the Romagna Institute for the Study, told ANSA of Tumors Irccs ‘Dino Amadori’ and president of Soho – Italy (Society of Hematologic Oncology Italy).
In pathologies of this type, one can run into a “first eventuality – he says – represented by the risk of an infectious complication in an already compromised organism. Another is that the chronic disease turns into an acute one: this happens when a hyperproliferation is determined of tumor cells which, at the same time, invading the bone marrow, prevents the normal production of other crucial cells: red blood cells, whose deficiency leads to anemia and profound asthenia, white blood cells and neutrophils, in the absence of which increases the risk infectious; platelets, the lack of which determines a risk of haemorrhage”.
“Moreover, in some cases in leukemic disease the DNA becomes ‘inactive’ – continues the hematologist – leading to mutations in various genes with the effect of further pushing the proliferation of cancerous cells. The more these mutations accumulate, the more it becomes It is difficult for the disease to respond to treatments. However, today innovative experimental therapies are possible which, through a molecular stratification of the pathology, can allow more targeted treatments”.
In Berlusconi’s case, “the reported improvement may be the effect of the supportive therapies that are generally used in these cases, such as erythropoietin, antibiotics and possible transfusions. The effects of chemotherapy, on the other hand – notes Cerchione – are not immediately visible”.
Even the president of the Italian Society of Nephrology Stefano Bianchi indicates the risk of complications in complex patients. “The possible appearance of a kidney problem in these cases – he says – represents, for example, a possible consequence and a further element of concern that could condition therapeutic interventions and tends to make the prognosis increasingly demanding”.
As for the causes that could lead to renal impairment, “in a complex patient they can be many: the septic state, or the state of infection itself, but also the therapies that are implemented, from chemotherapy to antibiotics”. To restore renal function, “pharmacological therapies can be used up to dialysis as a last resort. In a highly specialized structure, however – concludes Bianchi – everything that is necessary will be put in place and this must make us optimistic”.
(ANSA).
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