Approve as soon as possible an implementing decree to make genomic tests reimbursable for patients with breast cancer. This is the request made by oncologists to the Lazio region. The purchase of these tests was approved and funded nationally at the end of 2020 but to date only Lombardy, Tuscany and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano have approved their reimbursement. In the Lazio Region, with this test, about 800 women could avoid unnecessary chemotherapy every year. This is what emerged yesterday afternoon during a webinar organized by the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM). The event is part of a virtual tour of the which includes 8 regional meetings, to raise awareness among oncologists on the role of genomic tests in breast cancer. The project is carried out with the unconditional support of Exact Sciences.
“Breast cancer is the most widespread and frequent throughout Italy and in Lazio over 4,600 new cases are recorded every year for a total of over 70 thousand women living with this disease”, he says Domenico Corsi, coordinator Aiom Lazio. In some types of patients, genomic tests allow us to predict the risk of relapse and, therefore, to exclude chemotherapy in addition to hormone therapy, avoiding unnecessary toxicity. All this would also allow to obtain important savings of public resources to be reinvested always in the field of oncological assistance. This is why we ask the Lazio Region to follow the virtuous example of other local institutions in our country ”.
“Every day, until the decree is implemented, almost 30 women throughout Italy lose the opportunity to carry out a genomic test – she continues Francesco Cognetti, Director of Medical Oncology Regina Elena of Rome and Professor of Oncology at the La Sapienza University of Rome. About half of these patients could undergo potentially avoidable chemotherapy. It is thus evident that there is no more time to waste and also in our region genomic tests must be reimbursed so that they are effectively available. To ensure fair access, it is important that the implementing decree of the Fund assigns a single national code to genomic tests. It is also essential to reduce health migration towards those virtuous regions that make genomic testing available to patients in a timely manner ”.
“The patients identified for this specific health service are those with invasive early stage breast cancer considered to be at intermediate risk – adds Corsi -. All low-risk women, for whom hormone therapy alone is indicated, and high-risk women for whom the hormone-chemotherapy association is recommended, are thus excluded from the possibility of carrying out the free examination. Genomic tests represent a useful tool to promote prescriptive appropriateness and can give excellent results especially in very common cancers such as that of the breast. However, they must be used correctly and the test must always be shared between the oncologist and the pathologist “.
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