ALPI new opening in Prato - Alpi World
ALPI new opening in Prato - Alpi World
ALPI new opening in Prato - Alpi World
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26<br />
Withcare<br />
the Sandro Pitigliani association<br />
for the Fight aga<strong>in</strong>st Cancer.<br />
The Association “Sandro Pitigliani for the fight<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st cancer” was founded (accord<strong>in</strong>g to the<br />
wishes of family and friends) after the death of<br />
Sandro from this illness. The Association began <strong>in</strong><br />
1979 with the aim of giv<strong>in</strong>g to the residents of <strong>Prato</strong><br />
affected by this illness the possibility of appropriate<br />
oncology care <strong>in</strong> the local hospital, and therefore<br />
close to their homes and those of their families. The<br />
aim of the centre has been to provide all therapy<br />
that <strong>in</strong> some way may help to overcome or improve<br />
this illness.<br />
The residents of <strong>Prato</strong> have shared and supported<br />
this <strong>in</strong>itiative with donations over the years that<br />
have allowed, with permission by the Hospital, the<br />
dedicated reconstruction of a build<strong>in</strong>g adjacent to<br />
the hospital, and construction of outpatient cl<strong>in</strong>ics, a<br />
day hospital designed for outpatient adm<strong>in</strong>istration<br />
of chemotherapy and f<strong>in</strong>ally an <strong>in</strong>patient ward,<br />
<strong>in</strong>clusive of sterile rooms.<br />
In recent years the Association, as well as f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g<br />
build<strong>in</strong>g restructur<strong>in</strong>g and acquir<strong>in</strong>g equipment to<br />
improve the facilities and make more comfortable the<br />
stay of the patients, has undertaken, with Hospital<br />
Management, to create a Sandro Pitigliani Centre<br />
of Research. This last achievement has allowed the<br />
Department of Oncology to feature as one of the few<br />
oncology units <strong>in</strong> Italy to undertake research with<strong>in</strong><br />
the hospital environment.<br />
A turn<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t was the arrival to the Hospital of Dr<br />
Angelo Di Leo, Medical Oncologist and Researcher,<br />
with an extensive work curriculum and experience<br />
<strong>in</strong> cl<strong>in</strong>ical trials <strong>in</strong> Italy and abroad. In 2003,<br />
he was appo<strong>in</strong>ted as director of Department of<br />
Medical Oncology and the Department of Oncology<br />
Research. The acquisition and implementation of<br />
the CellSearch System <strong>in</strong> 2006, supported by the<br />
Hospital Adm<strong>in</strong>istration and <strong>in</strong> close collaboration<br />
with the Department of Anatomical Pathology,<br />
enabled the <strong>in</strong>itiation of Translational Research.<br />
The prelim<strong>in</strong>ary results obta<strong>in</strong>ed with this <strong>new</strong><br />
diagnostic tool, reported by the research team at<br />
various national and <strong>in</strong>ternational conferences, have<br />
provided important and valuable data. In 2008, this<br />
research earned a research grant of 250,000 USD<br />
from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation <strong>in</strong> New<br />
York. Our Department was the only unit <strong>in</strong> Italy to<br />
receive this prestigious grant.<br />
In 2008, <strong>in</strong> ongo<strong>in</strong>g collaboration with Hospital<br />
Management, the research unit became the “Centre<br />
of Oncology Research Sandro Pitigliani”. With<br />
Declaration N. 334 del 08/04/2009 from the Hospital<br />
of <strong>Prato</strong> Management USL4, the Translational<br />
Research Unit (TRU) was activated. The aim of<br />
the TRU is cl<strong>in</strong>ical research, aimed at rapidly<br />
transferr<strong>in</strong>g discoveries from the laboratory to the<br />
cl<strong>in</strong>ical sett<strong>in</strong>g (the “from the bench to the bedside”<br />
approach).<br />
The objectives of the research emerg<strong>in</strong>g from the<br />
TRU are (a) to <strong>in</strong>dividualise molecular profiles<br />
predictive of a response to medical treatment,<br />
and (b) to identify molecular markers associated<br />
with the presence of residual microscopic disease.<br />
Breast cancer is the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal focus of the research<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g undertaken <strong>in</strong> the TRU. The TRU operates<br />
with<strong>in</strong> the ‘Istituto Toscano Tumori’ and benefits<br />
from collaboration with other organisations of<br />
the ‘Istituto’, and with the Scientific Director and<br />
Operations Director of the ‘Istituto Toscano Tumori’