“Brain tumors. Gliomas, what future?”. Tomorrow, Saturday 27 April ASL Taranto we talk about brain tumors trying to take stock, in particular, of gliomas and the status of the current surgical phase.
The conference, which takes place at the Aula Magna of the Polo Jonico university in via Duomo, open to doctors, pharmacists and healthcare professions, it is led by Dr Giovanni Costella, scientific manager of the training event as well as director of the neurosurgery structure of the Santissima Annunziata in Taranto. Among the speakers, Professor Giuseppe Barbagallo, Professor of the Neurosurgical Clinic at the University of Catania.
“A challenge for the future because neuroscience needs to make important steps forward. Excellent results have been achieved in surgery, which has become more precise, minimally invasive and, where possible, maximal, but it is necessary to do even more compared to previous decades – declares Costella.
Purpose of the conference therefore it is to take stock of cerebral gliomas, pathology which in 70% of cases is malignant, burdened by rapid progression and a limited survival time of the people in whom it is diagnosed. “Compared to the past, today in neurosurgery we remove the tumor lesion without causing brain damage to the patient, preserving their quality of life after surgery; years ago, it was methodical to surgically remove portions of brain matter beyond the tumor lesion, with negative consequences on the quality of subsequent life”, explains the director of neurosurgery in Ionica.
Today neurosurgery has a wide range of instruments that allow, among other things, monitoring, “neuronavigation” and intra-operative resonance imaging, so as to increase the resection margin of the glioma. Recently introduced fluorescent markers allow the site of the tumor to be highlighted in a different and precise way. New surgical methods they allow access to the so-called “noble areas” of the brain that surgery in the past did not allow touching without causing damage. Surgical tumor removals today are increasingly precise, they increasingly tend towards the total removal of the neoplasm and allow “greater time free from recurrence” which unfortunately, for malignant gliomas, are currently a certainty.
The themes of the conference, which continues with various panels and illustrious speakers until the afternoon, ideally embrace the entire patient journey, from his acceptance to the diagnosis, the psychological approach and dialogue with the family, the classification, the anesthetic technique to be used in site of intervention, the intervention, rehabilitation and the subsequent oncological therapeutic approach.
“Neurosurgery is a flagship of Ionian healthcare – declares the general director of ASL Taranto Vito Gregorio Colacicco – and scientific events like this underline its work also in the field of scientific research that crosses regional borders. The Apulian community can count on the excellence of our territory without having to resort to journeys of hope, which add inconvenience and fear to those already affected by this serious pathology.”
At the neurosurgery facility directed by Dr. Costella, resection operations for cerebral gliomas are routinely performed, with the use of the exoscope, an instrument of high surgical precision compared to the classic microscope. In Italy there are only 18, the Santissima Annunziata boasts the record of being the only garrison to have them in Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria. Our country is first in Europe for use of the exoscope; followed by France and Spain.
