Offer uniform, timely and highly specialized assistance to each patient with suspicious melanoma: this is the objective of the new therapeutic assistance diagnostic path (PDTA) recently approved and deliberated by the university hospital “G. Martino” of Messina.
An initiative that represents a step forward towards modern health, built around the patient’s needs, and based on an integrated approach involving all the phases of the disease, from early diagnosis to the most advanced treatments, such as target therapies and immunotherapy.
Melanoma is a malignant tumor that originates from the neoplastic transformation of the melanocytes of skin and mucous membranes or, much more rarely, from the melanocytes placed in extracataneous offices (eye, internal ear, menings). Although it represents only 5% of all skin tumors, they are responsible for over 80% of the deaths related to these neoplasms, due to its ability to metastasize early.
In Sicily, about 600 new cases are diagnosed every yearwith a growing incidence, even among young adults. The most recent data (database of Sicily cancer registers, 2019) indicate an incidence of 11.0 new cases per 100,000 men and 9.0 per 100,000 women. The risk is influenced by genetic (familiarity, immunosuppression), environmental (exposure to UV) factors or by a combination of both.
Prevention and early diagnosis remain the most effective weapons. The recognition of suspicious signs – according to the rule of “ABCDE” (asymmetry, irregular edges, non -uniform color, dimensions> 6 mm, evolution) – is crucial to promptly identify the disease. The first garrison remains the general practitioner or the pediatrician, fundamental in the net of early diagnosis.
In the new PDTA of the Polyclinic, each patient is followed by a multidisciplinary team, the multidisciplinary oncological group (Gom), coordinated by Prof. Mario Vaccaro, ordinary of skin diseases and Venus of the University of Messina. The group includes specialists in dermatology, oncology, plastic and general surgery, pathological anatomy, radiology, nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, specialized nurses, clinical psychologists and the company case manager.
Each phase – from biopsy to therapy – is part of an integrated and shared path, aimed at guaranteeing effective, personalized and continuous assistance. The patient is taken over by the tire nursing contact person, who, together with the Case Manager, accompanies the patient by illustrating each step, from the first diagnostic tests to specialist visits, up to the definition of the therapeutic plan.
“This PDTA is not only a protocol, but a concrete commitment to a modern medicine, centered on the person and based on evidence,” underlines Prof. Mario Vaccaro. “Our goal is to offer every citizen of Eastern Sicily high quality oncological care, without having to leave its territory. The challenge of melanoma is played on time, awareness and on the ability of health to network. With this new PDTA, the Polyclinic of Messina consolidates its role of reference in the fight against an insidious but increasingly tackled disease, if intercepted early”.
Components of the tire melanoma
- Prof. Mario Vaccaro, Coordinator – UOC Dermatology
- Prof. Francesco Borgia – UOC Dermatology and Venereology
- Prof. Francesco Stagno d’Alcontres, Prof. Gabriele Delia, Prof. Mariarosaria Galeano, Dr. Amedeo Strano, Dr. Antonina Fazio – UOC Plastic Surgery
- Prof. Giuseppe Navarra – UOC General surgery with Oncological Address
- Prof. Maria Carmela Santarpia, Dr. Maria Ilenia Passalacqua – Uoc Medical Oncology with Hospice
- Prof. Maria Lentini – UOC Pathological Anatomy
- Prof. Giorgio Ascenti, Dr. Carmelo Sofia – UOSD Oncological Radiology
- Prof. Fabio Minutoli, Dr. Davide Cardile, Dr. Maria Francesca Martino – UOC Nuclear Medicine
- Prof. Stefano Pergolizzi, Dr. Michele Pisana – UOC Oncological Radiotherapy
- Dr. Giuliana Maisano Branca – Psychologist, Uoc Medical Oncology with Hospice
- Dr. Luisa Cucinotta – Case Manager Case Manager
- Dr. Roberto De Domenico – Nursing contact person, UOC Dermatology