A suspicious mole and the temptation to 'not think about it'. The worst thing for melanoma prevention. One international studyin which researchers from the Pascale Foundation National Cancer Institute of Naples took part, revealed that between 2020 and 2021in the midst of the pandemic emergency and Covid restrictions, 'missed' checks and consequent diagnostic and treatment delays have caused the loss of 111,464 years of life in 31 countries in Europe. With a cost of 7.1 billion euros. In the same period, according to the study published in the Jama Network Open magazine, 15 thousand years of life were lost in Italy alone.
To draw attention to the importance of prevention and early diagnosis the Melanoma Foundation and the Pascale Tumor Institute of Naples have launched the new short film entitled 'Su noi due'starring two well-known faces from the soap 'Un posto al Sole', Lara Sansone and Miriam Candurro, and with co-stars two other TV favourites, Gigi & Ross. The extras are all real nurses and the short film itself – which lasts 10 minutes – was made in the outpatient clinics of the Tumor Institute of Naples and in the Ascalesi hospital, merged with the oncology center for 4 years. Presented this morning at the Mediterraneo hotel in Naples, it is in the running for the various film festivals, first and foremost the Venice one, and for this reason it cannot yet be broadcast on TV or in cinemas.
Produced by Bronx Film and with unconditional support from Bristol Myers Squibb, the short film tells the story of two friends with a very different approach to the prevention of melanoma: Anna, played by Miriam Candurro, more scrupulous, who discovers she has melanoma in the early stages of the disease; and Teresa, played by Lara Sansone, less attentive to prevention, who discovers that she has the same disease as her friend when the cancer has already started to spread. In the short film, when Anna expresses fears about a mole on her thigh, her friend smilingly advises her “not to think about it”. The worst advice, experts agree. “Thinking about it is precisely what we all need to do”, underlines Paolo Ascierto, president of the Melanoma Foundation and director of the Melanoma Oncology, Oncology Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapies Unit of the Pascale Institute.
“In fact, even for melanoma, prevention is better than cure. Because although this tumor no longer scares us as in the past thanks to the availability of innovative drugs, primarily immunotherapy which is able to cure 50% of patients with metastatic disease, prevention and early diagnosis remain our best weapons” , remarks the oncologist.
The later the diagnosis is reached, the more the disease progresses and the more complicated it becomes to treat it. Just as it happened – and still happens – to the thousands of patients who postponed screening during the pandemic, due to restrictions, staff shortages and the fear of getting sick with Covid. “Our study, based on data from 50,072 European patients, estimates that in approximately 17%, melanoma would have progressed to a higher stage in 2020-2021 due to just 2 to 3 months of delays in diagnosis or treatment – explains Ascierto -. We should be alarmed by the fact that, due to a single disease, so many years of life have been lost and that thousands of patients have suffered a worsening of their quality of life.”
The short film is therefore an invitation to think about the prevention of melanoma, the third most frequent cancer under the age of 50 in Italy: in 2023, approximately 12,700 new diagnoses were estimated, of which 7 thousand among men and 5,700 among women. Finding out sooner is better, as the story of Anna and Teresa shows. “An early diagnosis is able to significantly influence the prognosis – concludes Ascierto -. Life expectancy for patients with early-stage melanoma reaches 95% 10 years after diagnosis. So let's 'think' about prevention. And, above all, let's act.” (from the Adnkronos Salute correspondent Adelisa Maio)
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