Every day a thousand people in Italy receives a cancer diagnosis: a substantial figure according to the president of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), Carmine Pinto, who at the presentation of the sixth joint report AIOM - Italian Association of Registers tumors (AIRTUM) also highlighted the growing commitment to improve survival and quality of life of patients affected by the disease.
The survival in Italy is aligned to the European average and for many types of cancer is higher. The big killers remain colorectal neoplasia, breast cancer, lung and prostate cancer, but right about the latter emerged as important a judicious use of PSA to avoid unnecessary risk of overdiagnosis.
Overall was a increase in new cases of cancer diagnosed among women while a decline in the male population.
In addition to the focus on the PSA, in this edition of the report is examined the issue of screening for cervical cancer, a more frequent among women under 50, with 2,300 estimated new diagnoses in Italy in 2016. Some screening programs have replaced the Pap test with the HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), in pilot projects or routine activities, such as is already happening in Piedmont under the Prevenzione Serena program.
Insights
- Read the report AIOM-AIRTUM "The cancer numbers in Italy - 2016 "
- Link to the "Cancer today" section of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) website