Lung Cancer, ‘Get Out of the Tunnel Don’t Burn Your Future’ Starts Again from Padua

After the success of the past editions, Walce (Women against lung cancer in Europe) Aps relaunches the itinerant campaign for the two-year period 2024-25 ‘Get out of the tunnel. Don’t burn your future’
. The association, always at the forefront of the fight against lung cancerchooses Padua as starting point for this new phase of the initiative dedicated to prevention and information on Smoking-related risks and to raising awareness and knowledge of the lung canceraimed at citizens, health workers, media and institutions, created with the unconditional support of AstraZeneca. The choice to start from Padua is not a coincidence: the occasion is the Open day that on the same days involves the departments of the University Hospital and the Iov, the Veneto Oncology Institute. The goal is to strengthen the synergy between health facilities and clinicians engaged on different fronts in the prevention of smoking and lung cancer.

Tomorrow and Sunday 22nd Septemberthe central Piazzetta Sartori – as stated in a note – will host an imposing cigarette-shaped stand, 14 meters long and 3 meters high: a real tunnel structured inside according to a multimedia path of knowledge in steps on the damages of cigarette smoking and lung cancer, with free admission from 10 to 18. Visitors, welcomed by oncologists and pulmonologists, in addition to learning from the panels of the installation, will be able to ask the specialists questions on the damages of tobacco and on the paths of weaning, on the risk factors linked to lung cancer. They will also be able to undergo a spirometric test and consult informative material produced by Walce Aps. Prevention and early diagnosis of lung cancer These are also the objectives of the pilot program active for 2 years coordinated by Risp-Rete italiana screening pulmonary, aimed at all citizens between 55 and 75 years of age, heavy smokers or former heavy smokers who can access the low-dose spiral CT scan offered free of charge in 18 Italian centers.

“We talk a lot about personalized medicine, but prevention should also follow the same process of capillarization, that is, reach everyone, because that is the only way we can be effective – he states Silvia Novello, president of Walce Aps – In this perspective, through this campaign, since 2015 we have spread messages and advice on primary prevention in many cities, sometimes even returning to places we had already been. The large number of people who visited the tunnel, a third of whom were young, the feedback obtained in the media and on social channels, the experiences and responses we were able to give are an important result achieved, a stage in a complex process such as that of providing education in the health and prevention fields”.

Tobacco smoke – remember the note – It is the leading cause of death in Europe, with 750,000 lives lost every year. In Italy, one in four people smokes (24%), a percentage that increases among young people (30.2%) who use traditional cigarettes, heated tobacco or electronic cigarettes. About 1 in 3 students between the ages of 14 and 17 have used a tobacco or nicotine-based product in the last year. Slightly higher consumption is found among girls. The number of anti-smoking centers nationwide is decreasing, despite the fact that in our country over 93 thousand deaths per year are attributable to tobacco smoking, with direct and indirect costs that exceed 26 billion euros.

Since its launch in 2015, the campaign ‘Get out of the tunnel. Don’t burn your future’ has reached 11 major Italian cities and 2 major European capitals, welcoming over 16 thousand visitors and carrying out almost 4 thousand spirometry tests. The anonymous data on visitors show a transversal interest: smokers are 32.4%, ex-smokers 30.3% and non-smokers 36.8%, with a slight male prevalence (57%). The most frequently asked questions concerned methods to quit smokingthe risks of the passive smoking hey time needed to reduce cancer risk after quitting. These questions demonstrate how current and sensitive the topic is, even among those who have never used tobacco.

“The initiative Open day ‘Via Salutis’coordinated by the two Departments Dsctv and Discog of the University of Paduais part of a broader project of the University of Padua, focused on the prevention of the main neoplastic pathologies and other chronic pathologies deriving from an incorrect lifestyle – he declares Federico Rea, Director of the Thoracic Surgery Division and Lung Transplant Center at the University Hospital of Padua – The event, in synergy and with the patronage of Walce Aps., will address various issues regarding the general well-being of the population and will offer an overview of the most innovative therapeutic strategies for neoplastic diseases. In particular, lung cancer, which has always been considered a ‘big killer’today is at the center of a therapeutic revolution for the numerous innovative drugs which offer significant results in combination with surgery. At the same time it is necessary to promote a strong action to stop smoking and therefore we believe that coinciding the first stage in Padua of the VII edition of the campaign ‘Get out of the tunnel. Don’t burn your future’ with the Open day you represent a perfect synergy of intents”. The campaign, between September 2024 and May 2025after the Initial stage of Padua will reach 6 other cities: Milan (Mind), Pisa, Pescara, Messina, Taranto and Catanzaro.