Women with metastatic breast cancer can avoid chemotherapy: a meta-analysis of 140 studies involving 50.029 patients, published in Lancet Oncology and coordinated by the University of Naples Federico II, has demonstrated for the first time that no chemotherapy regimen is more effective than the combination of hormone therapy and new molecularly targeted therapies. The indication is for hormone-receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer, which accounts for 65% of metastatic cases. In Italy, 24 women are eligible for this combination. The study is the result of an international collaboration, coordinated by Mario Giuliano of the University of Naples Federico II and Daniele Generali of the University of Trieste, and involving many Italian researchers. The meta-analysis included research published between January 2000 and December 2017. "It was therefore shown that targeted therapies are effective in the first-line setting, that is, as the first treatment, and that quality of life improves. This analysis," explains Lucia Del Mastro, head of the Breast Unit at the IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino in Genoa, "is very important because, for the first time, it compares the efficacy of currently available chemotherapy and hormone therapy regimens, with or without targeted therapies, in the first- and second-line setting. It also confirms the established international guidelines, which recommend, even in the first-line setting, the use of hormone therapy, postponing chemotherapy in these patients." The advantages of this approach in terms of "reduced toxicity," she emphasizes, are clear. Despite international recommendations, however, chemotherapy is still widely used in clinical practice for these patients (in over 40% of cases): "We hope that the analysis published in The Lancet Oncology will change this trend. The new treatment options, in fact," he concludes, "guarantee a high quality and quantity of life."
Naples - The two-year-and-four-month-old boy admitted to Naples' Monaldi Hospital after a transplant performed on December 23, 2025, on a damaged organ remains on the list for a possible new heart transplant, both in Italy and abroad. This was reported by the family's lawyer, Francesco Petruzzi, who stated that the management of…
Naples – The news no one wanted to hear, the one feared but hoped to be swept away, has arrived like a final verdict. The child admitted to Monaldi Hospital, who survived for over fifty days attached to a machine after receiving a "burned heart," is no longer transplantable. To extinguish the last light...
In the early hours of yesterday morning, the State Police executed an order for pre-trial detention at the Nisida Juvenile Detention Center, issued by the Preliminary Investigations Judge of the Juvenile Court of Naples. The order concerns an Italian minor residing in the province of Caserta, under investigation for…
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