Cancer: no mention of it . Because the word frightens and fear immobilizes and generates rejection if not observed with awareness. Less and less mentioned in articles of wellness portals and magazines, because it is better to think about diets, aesthetics, seasonal ills, food fads, forgetting that all these factors are intimately connected with the health of the body-mind system in its entirety .
Or, on the other side, the cancer "screamed", alarmism at all costs, the absurd belief that fear is something to be generated but without giving the tools to manage it. In the editorial office we often experience how delicate it is to write about cancer without "bouncing" between these two extremes, the excessive desire to transmit peace and adequately inform the other side.
The integrated therapeutic approach to cancer
February 4 is an important day in the world, World Cancer Day . The key word in this regard is: prevention. There are many cancer diagnoses, they are real data (it is estimated that around 1, 000 people are diagnosed with cancer and every year more than 300, 000 new diagnoses of this disease are recorded), but on the other hand it is also true that what was perceived as an incurable disease now has its cure, it contemplates the possibility of healing and self healing with therapeutic supports of professionals that bring back to the state of health, which help the subject to restore balance.
The approach is increasingly integrated: information on cancer prevention touches on lifestyle, nutrition, care for movement, attention in summer during sunbathing and smoking cessation.
Therapists from different disciplines begin to collaborate. It is no longer such a mirage that the yoga teacher talks with the oncologist and the acupuncturist as well, so to speak. An integrated and multidisciplinary approach that flows into the overall therapeutic proposal, which also corresponds to the attempt to provide an adequate level of assistance in the area, close to home, to realize the global responsibility of the person in his health, social and relational needs, through the integration of the various institutional and non-institutional actors, families and associations where people with great capacity to take care work.
Preventive foods against cancer
LILT, February 4, and cancer registries in Italy
In this sense, organizations such as the LILT are committed, which adheres to the World Day against Cancer promoted by the Union for International Cancer Control ( UICC ), a non-governmental organization, of which the League is a member, and which represents associations committed against the disease in over one hundred countries.
LILT provides a green line to SOS LILT 800 99 88 77; a team of experts (composed of jurists, doctors and psychologists) will answer questions about the disease both to those directly affected and to family members who need support.
On this day, advice will be given for smoking cessation programs, support at European level, and logistic and health suggestions. It is good to listen to those who have known cancer up close, talk about it, exchange visions and experiences. It is no coincidence that the aid groups are increasingly revealed as the pulsating nuclei of the individual's healing process.
An event that is also an opportunity to spread correct information about a disease that affects millions of people in the world, but which fortunately today we are increasingly able to treat and from which in many cases we recover. The person does not identify with the disease in a total way, he can talk about fear, his own body image, sexual and overall well-being, eating and sports habits.
Cancer has very recognizable symptoms and it is precisely through the information that is monitored. Research is increasingly focused on innovative tests that make diagnoses and therapies more and more precocious, from palpation of the breast to very effective and more complex strategies.
Recently there have been articles on the web that talk about cancer in relation to the "bad luck" factor. Chance plays its role and everyone has their opinion on the movements that man cannot foresee, but without going into philosophical arguments we would like to reiterate the facts that are likely to be obscured by these easy-to-write articles. difficult to comment. The fact remains that tobacco consumption is responsible for 71% of lung cancer mortality and 22% for other cancers .
A lot can also be done, it is not possible to liquidate the topic: even those who are not directly affected can support investments for research and health policies; it is in fact an investment for our future.
From a statistical and data collection point of view, there is an "invisible building site" that constantly works and monitors everything on the Italian territory. We recall that there are cancer registries that are real structures engaged in gathering information on cancer patients residing in a specific territory.
They are necessary because in any Italian hospital structure, public or private, there is an obligation to archive data relating to the diagnosis and treatment of tumors. If you want to monitor the progression of the oncological pathology it is therefore necessary for someone to take on the task of actively searching for information, codes, archives and make them available for studies and research. The Italian cancer registries have taken on this task. There are currently 43 population registers (38) or specialized (5) that follow around 28 million Italians, corresponding to 47% of the total resident population.
The information collected includes the type of cancer diagnosed, the name, address, age and sex of the patient, the clinical condition in which he is, the treatments he has received and is receiving and the evolution of the disease. These data are essential for the research on the causes of cancer, for the evaluation of the most effective treatments, for the planning of prevention interventions and for the planning of health expenses.
