Annual report 2004 - Compagnia di San Paolo

Programmes
Oncology Programme
Molinette
Hospital-PET project
and Cyclotron
bodies, but also took a proactive stance on themes such as technological innovation and the
importance of knowledge and awareness of specific needs in the oncological field, first and
foremost on Piedmont’s regional territory. Within the context of oncology-related technological
innovation and particularly of Molecular Imaging-related issues, in November 2002 The
Compagnia organised an internal seminar on the technical-scientific and management-related
aspects of PET.
The meeting was attended by Italian experts, Piedmont’s leading hospitals’ general managers, and
health sector’s regional representatives. As underlined during the event, the creation of a PET-CT
diagnostic instruments’ network is vital in many respects, for treatment centres, diagnosis,
prevention and research.
In order to respond to the need for knowledge-building tools, the Compagnia laid upon the G.Prato
Economic and Financial Sciences Department of Turin University the task of submitting a report
under the title “Oncological Assistance in Piedmont: Problems and Perspectives” published in July
2003 in the “Quaderni della Compagnia” collection. The study, widely echoed through the media,
painted a comprehensive picture of oncological assistance demand and supply in the region,
analysing the sensitive issue of patients’ mobility in the case of patients residing in Piedmont.
Among the most remarkable Oncology Programme-related initiatives financed by the Compagnia
in the course of 2004, some are certainly worth recalling: the completion of the PET-CT project in
San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Turin; the support given by the Compagnia in favour of the
“Metabolic Radiotherapy” project, at the University-Directed Complex Structure for Radiotherapy of
San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Turin; the “Experiment of a Rapid System for Collecting and
Circulating Data on Cancer Survival Rate” of the ISS, Italian Higher Health Institute; the prosecution
of a project on “Innovative Therapies for the Eradication of Lymphatic Cancer” of the University
Hematology Operational Unit of San Giovanni Battista Hospital; the “Study on Circulating
Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Pancreatic Cancer” of the Clinical Physiopathology Department of
Turin University.
The Oncology Programme has been a very important experience to the Compagnia, both for the
amount of resources it has allocated, and for the methodological and operational instruments it has
been able to develop. The rich experience it has acquired will prove extremely useful already in
2005, when new medical and scientific programmes will be launched. However, the completion of
the Oncology Programme certainly does not mark the end of the Compagnia’s activity in the field;
on the contrary, in the years to come initiatives will focus on biomedical research and prevention.
73