MILAN (ITALPRESS) – The Myces, acronym for Chronic Inflammation Diseases of the intestine, Chron disease and ulcerative colitis, are particularly debilitating pathologies, which often involve not only the intestine, but also other organs of our body, and therefore need continuous care, close controls and sometimes even a specific diet. In Italy, to support patients of this type of disease, for more than 20 years the Association “Friends”, which deals with aggregating, training and approaching the care those suffering from these diseases, trying to guarantee the best care. For 10 years the association has promoted a foundation, the Amici Foundation, chaired by Professor Vito Annese, director of the Gastroenterology Unit and Digestive Endoscopy of the Irccs Policlinico San Donato of Milan and who sees in the Cda also the architect Luigi Bruno and the secretary, Dr. Federica Fatti. The foundation has the task of promoting the association in terms of research, communication, institutional links and promoting independent research on these diseases, also seeking funds that can be used. Interviewed by the Italpress Printing Agency, Professor Annese said: “In the last 20 years we have witnessed a revolution in the field of research of these diseases that we call immunomediate, that is, linked to an abnormal response of the immune system. We have not yet made any progress in understanding the mechanism for which they develop, but there have been enormous advances in terms of therapy. Until 20 years ago we had three therapeutic possibilities, now we have about ten. There was really a great development, a great boost from the pharmaceutical world to allow better control of the disease. Unfortunately, we are not yet at the care and are not yet at the possibility of 100% control.” “Research at the moment is essentially a research supported by industry and is a research that is essentially linked to the production of new drugs and this is obviously a great good for patients. It is more difficult to do an independent research, that is, a research that starts from universities, that starts from the foundations and associations of patients, because there is always need of funds for this – added Annese -. In particular, our idea is to be able to improve the quality of life of these patients, who have a number of problems, such as having chronic fatigue, failing to sleep well, not having the social life they might have and limitations in the world of work. Here, research in this area is still lacking and this is what we would like to promote with a search for funds that we hope to achieve.” “The paradoxical thing is that we do not yet know how many patients with this disease are in Italy. We estimate 250-300 thousand – says the president of the Amici Foundation again -, therefore a number not comparable to the population of diabetics. But they are patients who have a long duration of the disease, which most of the time arises in the early years of life, between the 20 and 40 years of age and therefore have 40-50 years of this pathology. You can imagine what social weight is for the individual and the community of long-term diseases. In this sense, they need registers, as they exist for other similar diseases and as there are in many other European countries, such as Sweden. In Italy we have long been paralyzed also for privacy issues, for secure access issues or in some way protected to data”. “The monitoring is the most important thing is what we try to inculcate to our patients – adds Annese –. I am a clinic, I take care of them directly and so already from the first appointments I say that we must not only see ourselves when things go bene, but we have to see each other periodically to avoid being ill, so to prevent eventually rekindling of disease”. According to Annese, it would also be necessary to extend the health exemption to some tests and examinations related to this disease, which would otherwise be particularly expensive and to encourage the use of wearable equipment, such as shirts and watches that can give a lot of distance information and can give in advance notices that the disease is about to restart, because it increases the heart rate and body temperature before the subject even notices. (ITALPRESS).
Photos: Italpress
