ROME (ITALPRESS) – Strengthening early diagnosis and improving the network for taking care. This was the objective of the discussion between experts and institutions, held at the Sala Caduti di Nassirya of the Senate of the Republic, on the occasion of the press conference presenting the policy paper “Cardiac amyloidosis: from patients’ needs to new frontiers of research,” realized with the nonconditional contribution of Bayer Italia. This moment of confrontation, promoted at the initiative of Senator Elena Murelli, Member 10th Commission and President of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Cardio, Cerebro and Vascular Diseases, brought together institutions and clinical experts to discuss the challenges related to the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis and the need for a more structured and uniform system of care, in order to ensure timely and homogeneous access to treatment for patients.Opening the proceedings was Senator Elena Murelli, who highlighted the need to strengthen the diagnostic and therapeutic pathway for cardiac amyloidosis, proposing concrete solutions for strengthening the network of specialized centers and institutionalizing a National Diagnostic-Therapeutic Care Pathway. This was followed by the speech of Manuela Bocchino, from the Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-metabolic and Aging Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità , who illustrated the epidemiological burden of the disease and the importance of strengthening screening and telemedicine programs. “Cardiac amyloidosis represents,” said Murelli, “a challenge that requires a paradigm shift in the management of diagnosis and patient care. To reduce diagnostic delays, it is essential to implement screening programs that allow early interception of the disease, thus improving treatment options and quality of life for patients. At the same time, the future of therapies for cardiac amyloidosis is evolving rapidly, offering increasingly concrete prospects for access to innovative treatments that can modify the progression of the disease. “Among the key points highlighted in the policy paper, the need to implement screening programs is of particular importance, in order to reduce the average time between the appearance of the first symptoms and diagnostic confirmation. Francesco Cappelli, Referent of the Center for the Study and Treatment of Amyloidosis Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Careggi Florence, highlighted how early identification of the disease is crucial to ensure that patients have access to the most appropriate treatments: “The main barrier is still the lack of widespread knowledge of the disease. The roadblock, in my opinion, is the genesis of the diagnostic suspicion. Once the suspicion arises, the pathway aimed at confirming or excluding the pathology is standardized and available in numerous centers dedicated to the pathology distributed throughout the country. Therefore, the diagnostic delay at this stage is attributable to a non-recognition of the disease at an early stage and therefore to a lack of in-depth diagnostic investigation and referral to dedicated centers. “The document also strongly highlights the need to strengthen the networks of specialized centers and the optimization of coordination between hospitals and referral centers, highlighting how the current organization presents territorial inhomogeneities that risk compromising the timeliness of patient care. In this regard, Alberto Cipriani, Referent of the Reference Center for Cardiac Amyloidosis at the AOU Padua, stressed that “to strengthen the collaboration between referral centers and territorial hospitals and improve patient care, it is essential to invest in training for physicians in the territory, so as to encourage earlier diagnosis. In parallel, the adoption of shared diagnostic-therapeutic pathways and the implementation of telemedicine tools would provide more equitable access to care and more effective management of the disease. The creation of formalized multidisciplinary networks, supported by digital platforms for sharing clinical data, would represent a further step forward in continuity of care. “The presented document therefore proposes a model that protects the value of early diagnosis and enhances the activity of referral centers in close synergy with territorial medicine, promoting more equitable access to care and reducing the current regional inhomogeneities, in the interest of patients’ quality of life.- photo press office Esperia Advocacy – (ITALPRESS).
