Leukemia, a model hospital for Europe, is located in Italy. In Monza, 85% of children are cured. And a new test offers hope.

MONZA LEUKEMIA HOSPITAL

Offer to the sick children of leukemia the most qualified medical and psychosocial assistance in order to guarantee them the most high chances of recovery and the best quality of life. This is the mission of the Maria Letizia Verga Center for the treatment and study of childhood leukemia, Monza, in Brianza. An example of healthcare excellence It is the result of a successful partnership between the public and private sectors: a private entity, the Monza and Brianza Foundation for Children and Their Mothers, manages the center independently, under an agreement with the regional government. It employs top-level professionals. they are fighting against leukemia or Lymphoma, diseases that today, thanks to the progress made in research, 85% of children are able to overcome, recovering, compared to 30% in 1979. The hope of the center, however, is to be able to do even better so that even the 15% of children who currently fail can achieve complete recovery. This hope is also fueled by the start of the trial of a new test which opens new horizons in the fight against the disease.

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THE CHILDREN'S LEUKEMIA CARE CENTER

The center works first of all thanks to aexcellent integration Between research, treatment, and hospitalization. This also applies to space. The basement, in fact, houses fifty employees, including researchers, technicians, and biologists: a team capable of already churning out 400 publications on this disease. Then there's the Day Hospital and the transplant areas, where researchers' results arrive in real time, giving patients the opportunity to doctors to continuously update therapies.

THE MARIA LETIZIA VERGA CENTER

The rooms are individual, with strong, dense colors, like the blue of the entire building. The walls are painted with themed designs, recalling the environment and its greenery: from the woods to the coral reef to the Mountains dolomitic. A few steps from the center there is the Vallera Farmhouse, where the are hosted children's families, who can thus be close to the young patients without discomfort. The facility was also recently visited by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who said"The Maria Letizia Verga Committee, the Tettamanti Foundation, and the MBBM Foundation are a great example of how the essential integration of science, professionalism, and human warmth can achieve remarkable results. The quality of the Maria Letizia Verga Center," he continued, "is demonstrated by the numbers: nearly two thousand children have recovered, and this gives a concrete idea of ​​how people often arrive here with apprehension and worry, yet leave, in most cases, reassured and with the prospect of a peaceful life."

A NEW TEST

Since last January, patients with acute myeloid leukemia admitted to the ASST in Monza, specifically at the San Gerardo Hospital, have had an additional tool to fight the disease. A test has been developed that can identify gene alterations that cannot be identified with standard methods. "With this test," explains Professor Carlo Gambacorti Passerini, director of the Hematology Unit at San Gerardo and professor of Hematology at the University of Milan-Bicocca, "we can identify mutations in each of 101 genes that we have selected as frequently mutated in this type of leukemia. Furthermore, this test is complemented by a second analysis that identifies fusions between parts of different genes in leukemia cells." therapeutic decisions can be made, such as changing medications, interrupting a therapy or on the contrary increasing its doses and proceeding with a bone marrow transplant, months in advance These offer clear advantages. For example, toxic therapies can be avoided when they are not necessary, and it is possible to decide in advance when to increase the aggressiveness of treatments, using them at the optimal time to maximize their effects.

The photo is taken from the Facebook page Maria Letizia Verga Committee.

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