Experts: “Ovarian cancer can be prevented with oncogenetic screening”

When you have a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, it is best to contact specialized treatment centers. In Campania there is an oncology network, active since 2016, which is also involving general practitioners. “Ovarian cancer is an extremely complex and difficult disease to treat because it almost always manifests itself in an advanced form and cannot be prevented unless healthy subjects are identified who have mutations that expose them to a greater risk”. Sandro Pignata, President of the ACTO Campania Scientific Technical Committee, Alliance against ovarian cancer, said this, speaking this morning in Naples at the ‘Ovarian cancer in Campania: Let’s change course’ event – organized with the patronage of ACTO Campania and the sponsorship of GSK – which saw, starting from the virtuous example of the Region, a discussion between clinicians, institutional representatives and patient associations to continue the ‘change of direction’ and respond to the unsatisfied needs of women living with ovarian cancer.

“In Campania – continues Pignata – we have developed 2 documents”, 2 diagnostic and therapeutic paths. “The PDTA of ovarian tumors and the PDTA of hereditary tumors. We have tried to apply them by identifying surgical centers capable of tackling the difficult surgery required to remove these tumors. For hereditary tumors, we have identified 6 centers, one per million inhabitants, which are responsible for oncogenetic screening, therefore for the search for the mutation for preventive purposes. We must promote the culture of prevention by involving general medicine and the population more. We must be aware that some tumors can be transmitted on a hereditary basis and that today “there are many innovations in both the surgical and pharmacological fields. PARP inhibitors, for example, can be used, but, being specific targets, they require molecular tests to be carried out first.

In this regard, “genomic tests that identify the mutation that belongs to the tumor – underlines Umberto Malapelle, Associate Professor, Director of the Laboratory of Predictive Molecular Pathology, Department of Public Health, University of Naples Federico II – are fundamental from the point of therapeutic view because they identify the population that can receive molecularly targeted treatment, such as PARP inhibitor drugs. In Campania there are institutions such as Federico II and Pascale that offer this test to patients with serious high-grade ovarian cancer, allowing the identification of the subpopulation sensitive to the PARP inhibitor. One of the constraints is to make this test automatic so as to offer it when the drug is available”, which in many regions “paradoxically” does not happen because the drug is available, but not the test.

Following the experience of the Campania oncology network, “there are many regions that are trying to implement similar models – states Francesco Perrone, President of AIOM, Director of the Complex Clinical Trials Structure of the National Cancer Institute IRCCS Fondazione Pascale, Naples – through processes organizational results can be achieved that are completely unexpected compared to the premises. Some southern regions, such as Lazio and Marche, have started to ask for news of the Campania oncology network”.