Lifestyles do not only influence the onset of a neoplasm, but also the effectiveness of treatments, i.e. secondary and tertiary prevention. “Not only smoking but also obesity substantially modify the ability of patients to respond to therapies through complex and very well-defined mechanisms of control of neoplastic growth. Today, thanks to the effectiveness of the therapeutic paths we have available, which guarantee many years of life after a cancer diagnosis, if we do not change lifestyles, the patient has a greater probability of developing other neoplasms again”. Thus Paolo Marchetti, president of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine, participating today in Rome, with the Aiom Foundation, the Italian Association of Medical Oncology, at the launch of the national campaign ‘Tumors, choose prevention’, carried out with the unconditional contribution of Daiichi Sankyo Italy.
“This – continues Marchetti – is a first aspect of tertiary prevention”, that is, in those who have already been treated for cancer: “avoiding that the maintenance of incorrect lifestyles continues to increase the risk of developing other diseases. Another fundamental aspect of tertiary prevention “concerns the possibility of reducing or anticipating the diagnosis of side effects, even serious ones, linked to anticancer treatments such as heart failure, which appears 10 or 15 years after the use of anthracyclines. By implementing a healthy lifestyle, the risk of developing pathologies also at the cardiac level is reduced”.
Furthermore, as the Aiom Foundation and the Foundation for Personalized Medicine, “we have repeatedly presented two aspects of fundamental innovation to the institutions – explains Marchetti – On the one hand, the expansion of the clinics for the recovered, which will be multidisciplinary clinics, possibly in spaces other than those of the hospital, which guarantee the care of recovered subjects. On the other hand, it is important to create functional recovery structures. If we stopped thinking in silos – he observes – we would understand that a complete functional recovery would allow savings and greater revenues for the country system because people would be reintegrated into society, into the work environment”, instead of requesting assistance. This approach “is very important in oncology, precisely because we have patients who are recovering from cancer in an ever-increasing manner – concludes Marchetti – but it is also important in chronic diseases such as diabetes in which maintaining a correct diet allows not only the reduction of negative evolutions of the disease, but also represents a moment of care”.
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