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Female tumors: in 10 years + 34% of women live after diagnosis

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Female tumors: in 10 years + 34% of women live after diagnosis

More than 2 thousand oncologists arrived in Rome for the XXIV Aiom National Congress who crowd the numerous sessions from which the latest updates of scientific research arrive, which goes more and more hand in hand with communication because having new therapies available is not enough to defeat a tumor if diagnosis is not reached early. This is the focus of the ‘Neoplasiadonna’ campaign launched in July of this year precisely with the aim of informing and educating.

Downward mortality

The starting point is the good news: in Italy, women living after the diagnosis of cancer have increased by 34% in 10 years, from 1,433,058 in 2010 to 1,922,086 in 2020. Effective and increasingly targeted therapies make it possible to live more and more for a long time, even when the disease is discovered at an advanced stage. “The increasing number of women living after the diagnosis of a ‘typical’ female tumor shows us how much research has made important steps forward – says Saverio Cinieri, Aiom president. Today, effective molecular targeted therapies are available for cancers such as breast cancer, which in Italy, in 2020 alone, affected about 55,000 women. These weapons, effective even in the most aggressive forms such as triple negative ones, have allowed a significant decrease in mortality. And research is redefining the treatment for about half of breast cancer patients, that is, those with low levels of Her2 protein expression ”.

The screening programs

But the therapies are accompanied by screening programs, which especially in breast cancer are showing important results. In six years (2015-2021), among the women of our country, mortality from this cancer has decreased by almost 7%. Advances in therapeutic innovation are evident in ovarian cancer, where there are no secondary prevention programs available but deaths have dropped by 9%.

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Education on female cancer

Numbers that raise morale, but more can be done for oncologists. Targeted campaigns are needed for cancers that are becoming more and more feminine because they are closely linked to cigarette smoking, such as those of the bladder and lung, which have recorded a net increase in deaths (+ 5.6% and + 5%). “It is now essential to raise awareness among women, make them aware of these pathologies and of screening, when present”, continues Cinieri.

The ‘Neoplasiadonna’ campaign

Precisely with the aim of informing and educating women, in July of this year Aiom launched the communication campaign ‘Neoplasiadonna’ created with the unconditional support of AstraZeneca. “We have created a prevention guide that has been distributed in major Italian cities, many social activities, interviews and discussions with clinicians and patients and one-to-one awareness meetings. We also have a commercial planned. We thus hope to also intervene on the recovery of the delays in screening caused by the pandemic ”.

Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is one of the most disabling female cancers for a woman, but even in this case oncologists are reassuring: “Today we have new targeted therapies for ovarian cancer, even for women with an advanced diagnosis, able to to significantly improve life expectancy, reducing the risk of disease progression or death – explains Domenica Lorusso, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Head of Clinical Research Programming at the A. Gemelli University Hospital Foundation in Rome.

The new therapies

In Italy, today, almost 50 thousand women live with a diagnosis of ovarian cancer and 70% of patients with advanced disease relapse within two years. “For them – continues Lorusso – we have front-line maintenance therapies, capable of obtaining long-term remissions. The updated data of two studies, PAOLA-1 and SOLO-1, presented at the recent European Congress of Medical Oncology (ESMO), with two out of three patients alive, at 5 and 7 years old, treated with targeted therapy, are very important. of the class of Parp inhibitors. The importance of early diagnosis remains evident. One of the problems we need to focus on right now is the missed visits in the past two years due to the pandemic. We fear that the halt in this two-year period could have negative repercussions in the immediate future. Women must schedule an annual visit to the gynecologist, if they have risk factors even more often ”.

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Lung cancer

Among the cancers considered female there is also that of the lung due to the increase in women who smoke. “Today, thanks to research, a large number of neoplasms, once characterized by a negative prognosis, can be treated, such as lung cancer in an advanced stage – underlines Rossana Berardi, professor of Oncology at the Polytechnic University of Marche, Director of the Clinic Oncologica, AOU Ospedali Riuniti of Ancona and member of the National Board of Aiom. “For those with more complex situations, chronicization is often possible: it means offering hope to women, who should not be frightened by the possibility of a diagnosis following the visit. The earlier the disease is identified, the greater the chances of a cure. The ‘Neoplasiadonna’ campaign aims precisely in this direction: to increase knowledge and awareness of the importance of early diagnosis in the female population. Without forgetting healthy lifestyles. It is important to address targeted prevention messages to save more lives ”.

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