Federica Grosso is responsible for the structure of mesothelioma and rare tumors at the Hospital Santi Antonio e Biagio d'Alessandria, near Casale Monferrato. And today, in an interview with The imprint he gets angry with the TV series Doc, broadcast by Rai. Who spoke about the disease in which she specializes, recounting experimental treatments, cures and relapses “with many inaccuracies”. “I always liked it but this year, after the second episode, which was so shocking, I stopped watching it. It was shocking to hear these things, I turned off the TV. We cannot say that mesothelioma can be cured”, he told Giulia Di Leo. The doctor explains that “the aggressiveness of the pathology depends much more on the histology: they are classified into epithelioid, sarcomatoid and biphasic. We then mention an experimental treatment in the United States which cures the patient. If the present, in the immediately post-Covid era, is in 2022, this diagnosis would date back to 2010, when there was no experimental treatment capable of curing in the United States because it does not exist today either.”
It doesn't heal
Grosso explains that “unfortunately, mesothelioma cannot be cured. I always tell my patients that we can be cured and until twenty years ago, that was unthinkable: today, they live longer and better thanks to therapies.” There are experimental treatments, adds – he, “in Italy and abroad, because all of us who deal with this pathology in the world work in a network and in close collaboration, but no experimental treatment is currently conclusive. This gives illusions to patients.” Another inaccuracy in the series concerns relapses: “Cases of living with the disease after a decade are rare. In general, we live with continuous controls and therapies. Among other things, in the event of a relapse, it is also said that the first therapy can no longer be carried out. False: when the disease progresses after a long period, the first thing we do is to repeat the treatment that has already worked.”
Meliothelioma
The doctor affirms, however, that “immunotherapy was approved by the AIFA in 2022 after the approval of the United States in 2020, but is only registered for the most aggressive cases, the only ones for which it is reimbursed, up to 25% of the total. . All other cases can only do chemotherapy. And Italy is one of the few countries in the world with limited reimbursement.” Grosso concludes: we need to talk about mesothelioma “with the right words and communicating progress in quality of life.” This is why, in collaboration with the Tutor patient association, we would like to request further information from Rai. It is nevertheless positive to highlight this increasingly topical subject. The peak of cases will be in 2025 but the curve will not go down quickly. We are talking about a slow decline until 2040 with 25,000 new diagnoses expected.”
Read also:
