Acute myeloid leukemia, diagnosed in Sinisa Mihajlovic, a blood cancer that affects around 3,500 people in Italy every year, which originates in stem cells present in the bone marrow and develops very rapidly
a very aggressive blood cancer that took away Sinisa Mihajlovic , as the statistics unfortunately show: five years after the diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia in fact, only 35-40% of patients survive.
It was the summer of 2019, when, returning from a holiday in Sardinia, the former Bologna coach was diagnosed with the disease. The heavy cycles of chemotherapy had immediately begun and, at the end of October 2019, he had undergone a donor bone marrow transplant which had given him back hope. In December 2019, just under five months after his first hospitalization, the former footballer had resumed his place on the bench on a permanent basis and since then had never abandoned it, despite always undergoing the checks required for all patients with his own clinical path. Until the announcement made in March 2022 at the press conference: the disease had returned and Sinisa had started a new heavy treatment process
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When the transplant fails and the cancer comes back
a pathology extremely aggressive It is most likely to affect men over the age of 60, although it can also occur in children. To date, the most effective therapy for many patients remains the bone marrow transplant from donor: acute myeloid leukemia, in fact, originates in stem cells present in the bone marrow and it develops very quickly – explains Paolo Corradini, president of the Italian Society of Hematology (SIE) -. It happens for often, unfortunately, that the disease recurs after the transplant. Based on various prognostic factors of the individual patient and the aggressiveness of the disease, in about half of the sick with acute myeloid leukemia undergoing a donor bone marrow transplant, the tumor reappears after some time.
In practice, even the new lymphocytes (the cells of the immune system responsible for defending our body) received through a transplant from a healthy person are unable to fight the neoplasm which returns with a recurrence.
Later it relapses better (and for Sinisa almost two and a half years had passed since the transplant, ed) because the passage of time indicates that the patient’s body still managed to react. Then there are new effective drugs that can be used, but unfortunately they don’t always work as hoped – says Corradini, who is also director of the Hematology Division of the IRCCS Foundation of the National Cancer Institute of Milan -. it is precisely on the front of the fight against recurrences that today the efforts of many researchers are concentrated to find further treatments capable of eradicating the tumor when it returns.
An important impact
Every year they are approx 32 thousand Italians who fall ill with blood cancer, which in two thirds of cases affects people with over 65 years old. The diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia arrives early, generally within two weeks of the patient’s first access to the treatment center and is accompanied by emotions such as fear, discouragement, anger, concern. As also emerges from a survey promoted by the Italian Association against leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma (Ail), the discovery of an aggressive pathology such as this creates anguish and concern in the people affected by it and has an impact for the family and the caregiver very important,” he stresses Sergio Amadori, professor of Hematology and national councilor of AIL -. Today the national scenario of good quality care (survival in Italy for many types of cancer is higher than the European average). The patient, when he begins to have symptoms that make one suspect a blood disease, is sent to a Hematology Center which takes care of tackling the diagnostic and therapeutic pathway up to possible recovery or follow-up. There diagnosis must be done as quickly as possible.
Unclear symptoms
The symptoms of many blood cancers are mostly vague, not very specific and common to many disorders, even minor ones: for example, fever or low-grade fever (particularly in the afternoon or at night), a sense of weakness that lasts, pain in the bones or joints that do not regress. Thus, one patient out of four said they did not go to the doctor immediately due to the difficulty in understanding the seriousness of the situation, also due to symptoms that initially seem bearable. Almost 60% go to the family doctor first before being referred to the haematologist. In any case, within two weeks of the onset of symptoms, 80% of patients are managed. In the vast majority of cases (88%) the haematologist communicates the diagnosis personally to the patient and considers the support that can reach patients from Ail to be very important. The results of this survey comfort us in choosing to collaborate with haematologists, with general practitioners and with those who work in the area – he concludes Joseph Bull, national president Ail -. And we will continue with our fundraising campaigns to support scientific research and guarantee our patients increasingly innovative and effective therapies that they can continuously improve their quality of life.
December 16, 2022 (change December 16, 2022 | 15:57)
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