Listen to the audio version of the article
When faced with a cancer diagnosis, the first thought is choosing the right hospital in which to be treated, especially for surgery. Finding your way is not easy: also because almost one hospital in two performs sub-threshold operations, i.e. too low a number of operations. In fact, using the scalpel too little means that the hospital is not able to offer the same safety and quality as those who perform above-threshold operations. The new updated map “Where do I get treatment?” just presented by Ropi (Italian patient oncology network) provides useful information on the highest quality centers for 17 tumors.
The North still at the top, the Center behind, but the South growing
First of all, it emerges from the map that Northern Italy is always at the top, ahead of the Centre, in the rankings for the number of oncological surgery operations, an indicator of the reliability of healthcare facilities which gives guarantees of safety and effectiveness. In this context, the North maintains first place in the rankings for centers above the threshold, i.e. those that have performed a high number of operations (the limit set is different depending on the type of tumor considered), while the South is growing, but with only 3 virtuous regions, Puglia, Campania and Sicily, which cover all the pathologies considered. Overall, almost one hospital in two performs interventions below the threshold (46%) and only 13 have the quality mark for care pathways. The updated framework was developed starting from the data of the latest Agenas National Outcomes Program and has the aim of helping patients to orient themselves in the choice of structures, by consulting the map, for 17 oncological diseases (cerebral, colon, esophagus, liver, larynx, breast, ovary, pancreas, lung, prostate, kidney, rectum, stomach, thyroid), from the website reteoncologicaropi.it
Rankings for breast, lung and stomach cancers
As mentioned, the Ropi classification considers 17 different pathologies. Here are some of the rankings: as regards operations for breast cancer, the European Institute of Oncology (Ieo) in Milan leads the way, with 2635 operations per year, followed by the Policlinico Gemelli in Rome (1344) and Irccs Istituto Clinico Humanitas (879), but the South also appears in the top ten with Humanitas Istituto Clinico Catanese (719). For lung cancer, the Sant’Andrea hospital in Rome has 572 operations, the Ieo 538 and the – Universitaria Careggi hospital in Florence 462. The Monaldi Hospital in Naples also figures in the top ten (292). As for stomach cancer, the first three facilities in terms of number of operations are the Gemelli (142 operations per year), the Aoui of Verona Borgo Trento (89) and the Irccs San Raffaele Hospital in Milan (88) and then with the same results (70 interventions) both the Aou Pisana and the Molinette of Turin
Performance on colon, prostate and brain tumors
For colon cancer, Gemelli is still first (505 operations), ahead of the Policlinico Sant’Orsola in Bologna (288) and the University Hospital of Pisa (248), but the Policlinico di Bari also appears in the top ten (206 ) and the Cardinal Giovanni Panico Hospital of Tricase (Lecce, 202). For prostate cancer, the top three are Careggi (726 operations), Ieo (509) and the Casa di Cura Pederzoli in Verona (473), and among the top ten there is also the Miulli Regional General Hospital in Bari (309). Finally, as regards brain tumors, noteworthy once again are the Gemelli hospital in Rome (636 operations), the Molinette hospital in Turin (488), the Borgo Trento hospital in Verona (393), the Institute of Neurological Sciences in Bologna ( 384) and the Irccs Neuromed of Molise (348).