Biomedical subjects

E Crocetti

Publications and source records attributed to E Crocetti.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Complementary medicine and oncologists' attitudes: a survey in Italy.

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: There is growing interest in medical practices other than conventional medicine (complementary medicine, CM). CM is widely used by cancer patients. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge of and the attitude towards CM in a sample of Italian allopathic oncologists. METHODS: Seventy-six oncologists of the Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro of Genoa, 80 oncologists working at the Istituto Tumori Fondazione Pascale of Naples, and 100 hospital practitioners of the Province of Sondrio were asked to answer a self-administered structured questionnaire on CM. The level of their knowledge on CM, their opinion on CM and on CM therapists, the sources of information, the use of CM for themselves, the practice of CM and the attitude to refer patients to CM were investigated. RESULTS: Replies were received from 190 oncologists. The response rate was significantly lower for the oncologists of Naples. One-fifth of the physicians replied that they had no knowledge of CM. The main sources of information were newspapers and TV. One-fourth of the physicians had personally used CM. About one-fourth of the physicians had practiced a kind of CM. The percentage of oncologists from Genoa who would refer their cancer patients to CM was significantly higher than the others. The physicians thought that about 84% of their patients used CM. The variables considered were tested in a multivariate model. The oncologists from Genoa showed a significantly increased risk of referring their patients to CM. Oncologists who had personally used CM referred patients to CM 3 times more frequently than the others. CONCLUSIONS: A large percentage of cancer patients used CM according to their physicians. The level and the quality of the knowledge of CM of the oncologists interviewed were low. The oncologists could hardly be helpful for their patients in dealing with therapies different from conventional medicine.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparability issues within the ITACARE data base.

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to describe the extent of variability among Italian cancer registries in data managing practices that may affect differences in incidence and possibly in survival estimates. METHODS: a self-administered questionnaire was sent to each participating registry. The definitions of the diseases, of the start point and of the end point of survival computation were investigated. Moreover, information on the proportion of histologic confirmation, of ill-defined sites and of DCO (death certificate only) was also considered. RESULTS: There were some differences in cancer registration techniques among Italian cancer registries. As regards disease definition, the most relevant problems arose for urinary bladder. Skin melanoma should also be considered with some caution, due to variability among registries in coding in situ cases. For the CNS and meninges, the proportion of cases that could be differently considered was so limited that no effect on survival is expected. For female breast, colorectum and cervix uteri, the effect of early diagnosis services (which are active only in some areas) may lead to better survival estimates. The variability in incidence date definition was high among registries and sites, but its effect on survival was very limited. There was a wide variability in the proportion of DCOs and of DCIs (initially known from death certificate), which should be considered in survival comparisons. All the registries stated that they carried out an active follow-up of their patients. CONCLUSIONS: In general, quality standards of the registries are good and allow comparability of survival data. The variability of rules adopted by Italian registries may affect geographic survival differences only in a limited number of cancer sites, so that results should be interpreted with caution.

Bias↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Synchronous and metachronous diagnosis of multiple primary cancers.

AIMS: In the time period near to the diagnosis of a new cancer, other tumors (synchronous cancers), especially slow-growing tumors, may be detected because several diagnostic examinations are performed. The frequency of synchronous in comparison with metachronous carcinomas has been evaluated in a population-based series of multiple primary cancers. METHODS: The case series of multiple primary cancers of the Tuscany Tumor Registry, incident during the period 1985-1991 was analyzed. For each site of a second independent tumor, the proportions of synchronous (diagnosed within 2 months of the first primary) and metachronous cancers were compared with the mean distribution (all sites except the specific one). RESULTS: During 1985-1991, 1095 patients had two independent tumors diagnosed; 216 were synchronous. The proportion of synchronous compared to metachronous cancers was significantly higher for bladder, prostate and renal cell carcinomas; it was significantly lower for lung cancer. When cancers following skin epitheliomas were evaluated, only the proportion of synchronous skin cancers was significantly increased. CONCLUSIONS: Silent slow-growing tumors are suspected to be more frequent in patients with prostate, bladder or renal cell carcinomas. In fact, they were most frequently diagnosed during ascertainment for another cancer. When few examinations were performed, as after the diagnosis of a skin epithelioma, no difference between metachronous and synchronous cancers was evident, except for skin.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The emigration of Italian patients to countries of the European Economic Community. Review of data published by the Ministry of Health].

In the present issue, the report "L'assistenza sanitaria all'estero-rapporti economici nei confronti dei Paesi CEE" by the Italian Health Ministry has been examined. The frequency and the cost of the health migration among Italy and other countries of the European Community during 1990-1993 has been presented. The migration of foreign patients to Italy was in agreement with tourism. About 35-40% of the Italian patients cured in the European Community were tourists. The others were patients migrated to obtain specialised treatments not available in Italy. The most frequent causes of migration were cancer, emathological diseases and radiotherapy, followed by transplants, neurological, cardiovascular and orthopaedic diseases. France was the most frequent destination. The overall cost of Italian health migration was 229 Pounds miliard in 1990, 300 Pounds miliard in 1991, and 264 and 216 Pounds miliard in 1992-1993. In the period analysed in the ministerial report, migration seemed to reduce. Migration however was still important especially from the South of Italy. The effect of the new regulations on the decreasing trend in migration was analysed.

Emigration and Immigration↗