Genoa – Genoa confirms itself as one of the most important breast cancer research and assistance centers at both a national and international level. Thanks above all to Breast Unit of the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital which has become a regional hub with over 1,000 new cases handled per year.
It guarantees dedicated care paths with particular attention to the topic of fertility preservation for patients under 40. Thanks to its Oncofertility Unit, the first established in Italy in 2001, one in ten women manages to have a child after being diagnosed with breast cancer. A figure double the national average which places the Genoese IRCCS among the top places in Europe.
Fertility preservation for cancer patients will be one of the themes at the center of the “Back from San Antonio” conference which will be held on 12 and 13 January in Genoa. It stands, in the Italian panorama, as one of the most important updates on breast cancer. This year too it involves the major Italian experts and sees the presence of over 250 participants. The event is presented today with a press conference in the City of the Lantern.
“The probability of definitive recovery from breast cancer currently exceeds 60% – he explains Lucia Del Mastro, full professor and director of the Medical Oncology Clinic of the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital, University of Genoa – We must increasingly set ourselves the goal of preserving the psycho-physical well-being of our patients even after the administration of treatments that are often still invasive. The desire for motherhood is a right that oncology can and must be able to guarantee to a growing number of women. In Genoa we managed to create a virtuous model also for other realities on the Peninsula. At San Martino the patient, who must undergo chemotherapy, is able to have direct access to the procedures for freezing oocytes and ovarian tissue. The intuition, which we had over 20 years ago, of create a structured collaboration between the medical oncology department and the medically assisted procreation center directed by Dr. Paola Anserini, was a winner”.
Oncofertility was recently discussed at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and, even in that international congress, Ligurian oncology was the protagonist. An in-depth analysis of the international POSITIVE study was presented at the meeting.
“It has been demonstrated that the use of medically assisted procreation techniques is safe without increasing the risk of breast cancer recurrence – underlines Matteo Lambertini, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital, University of Genoa -. This was found among patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer who temporarily withdrew endocrine therapy to purposely try to become pregnant.”
A further study on the topic of oncofertility, coordinated by San Martino, was presented by Matteo Lambertini in Texas at the SABCS and published simultaneously in the prestigious American magazine JAMA. In this study, more than 70 centers around the world were involved and over 4,700 young women with hereditary breast cancer due to the presence of a mutation in the BRCA genes were enrolled. After completing oncological treatment and a correct observation period, one in five women managed to get pregnant. Furthermore, having a pregnancy after the diagnosis of breast cancer in BRCA mutated women who had undergone previous chemotherapy was found to be safe both for mothers (i.e. without any increased risk of tumor recurrence) and for children (i.e. without any increased risk of malformations or other pregnancy complications).
“It is strategic to also share important results such as those communicated during the San Antonio conference on the territory – he states Angelo Gratarola, Councilor for Health of the Liguria Region – I would like to underline the great objective of researching the psychophysical well-being of patients affected by neoplastic breast pathology, protecting their desire for motherhood and therefore, through the procedure of freezing of oocytes and ovarian tissue, guaranteeing them, albeit in a significant percentage of cases, the possibility of becoming mothers even after an oncological disease such as breast cancer. Fertility cancer was discussed at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and it was done thanks also to our researchers, Professor Lucia Del Mastro and Professor Matteo Lambertini, a way to keep the flag of Liguria high, in particular of San Martino , a pride for the entire Region”.
“The San Martino Polyclinic is an exemplary case of successful integration between the ordinary assistance that we must provide to cancer patients and the promotion of scientific research – he states Antonio Uccelli, scientific director of the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital in Genoa – For years we have participated in international studies that have contributed to changing international guidelines on the treatment of breast cancer. In addition to those relating to fertility preservation, we have carried out research on 'dose-dense' chemotherapy, which consists of administering drugs every two weeks instead of every three. In other works we have focused on the 'extended' use of endocrine therapy.”
“Fundamental in all these activities is the fruitful collaboration with the University of Genoa and our careful internal organization – he explains Marco Damonte Prioligeneral director of the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital in Genoa – Liguria was one of the first Italian regions to have established Breast Units for multidisciplinary tumor management most widespread in our country. At San Martino we are able to offer our patients all the treatments that innovation in oncology has produced.”
“The San Martino polyclinic hospital, founded about 5 centuries ago, represents the regional reference center for the main specialties – he claims Giovanni Orengo, medical director of the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa -. We have always given a prominent place to oncology with the establishment of the 'cancer center' within the hospital where over 7,000 cases of cancer are treated every year. To guarantee the highest level of quality and innovation, assistance is carried out through an organization of multidisciplinary groups, each specialized in a specific type of tumor”.
At the “Back from San Antonio” conference, Italian specialists meet to discuss the latest scientific evidence emerging on American soil. “Important confirmations on the role of conjugated antibodies came from the US meeting – adds Professor Del Mastro -. These are drugs that are changing cancer treatment and are composed of an antibody to which chemotherapy molecules are added. In breast cancer they are used in triple negative and HER2 positive cases. We now have favorable results available also for women suffering from breast cancer with positive hormone receptors. Other confirmations have come from immunotherapy that it can be used to treat early-stage cancer.”
Finally, always at the Genoa event also in this edition, three prizes will be awarded to young oncologists under 40first signatures of scientific works on breast cancer published in 2023. The following will be awarded: Benedetta Conteformer resident at the University of Genoa, currently PhD student at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, for her work on the factors that predict the toxicity and effectiveness of hormone therapy; Luca Licataof the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan for his research on tumors with high proliferative activity; Eva BlondeauxMedical Oncologist at the Clinical Epidemiology Unit of the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital, first author together with Matteo Lambertini
of the work presented at the SABCS on pregnancy after breast cancer in patients with BRCA mutation.
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