Rome, November 19, 2020 – Collapse from 75 to 90% for both election and First Aid activities, zero prevention, at risk the adherence of therapies, very high price for the late management of pathologies whose course is strongly conditioned by an early diagnosis. This is the picture ofItalian urology in time of Covid-19, drawn up by the PRO Foundation during a virtual press conference, on the international day dedicated by UNESCO to men’s health. “Surgical activity for oncological pathologies did not stop for bladder and prostate cancers – explains Vincenzo Mirone, President of the PRO Foundation, Full Professor of Urology and Director of the School of Specialization in Urology | Federico II University, Naples – but the combination of the fear of contagion and the usual, pernicious, poor attitude to take care of oneself or to do so when it’s too late now”.
Vincenzo Mirone, President of the PRO Foundation: “We must build a new mode of interaction to defend and spread andrological prevention. This is why PRO TV was born, a web channel dedicated to training and information certified by leading Italian experts ”.
“Covid-19 – Mirone recalls – has made the existence of the more than 564 thousand men who live with prostate cancer in Italy more difficult. For 71% of patients, Coronavirus is a cause of great concern, while 37% are convinced that it is more exposed to contagion due to anti-tumor treatments. Four out of ten patients avoided going to hospital during the first lockdown, thus postponing treatment and visits. And seven out of ten patients wish to be able to take quarterly or six-monthly therapies, in order to be able to reduce access to health facilities and ensure continuity of care. Our national educational campaign is dedicated to all of them “Prostate, for cancer there is no lockdown”, an appeal not to abandon therapies, married and shared by a sensitive and generous person like Massimiliano Allegri, protagonist of our commercial. The PRO TV is dedicated to all Italian men, but also to their companions www.fondazionepro.tv a project that brings together the most authoritative Italian figures on the training and dissemination of topics such as fertility, prostate health, that of the couple, Telemedicine and correct lifestyles. Activated last July, the TV, which is constantly updated with new authoritative contributions, is having significant success in different age groups. Our goal is, recognizing that we will have a long time to deal with this pandemic, to build one new mode of interaction to defend and spread urological and andrological prevention “.
“In a country where 25 million men over 15 years old, 8 out of 10 Italians have never undergone a visit to the urologist – says Andrea Salonia, Full Professor of Urology and Director of the Urological Research Institute | Vita-Salute University, San Raffaele Hospital, Milan -. Yet the prostate cancer it represents the most frequent cancer in males after the age of 50, with numbers very similar to those of breast cancer (36,000 new diagnoses every year, with about 7,000 deaths). We can intervene on these data, starting by improving the relationship with the environment: a healthy context in fact has a protective role for people’s health. In fact, the latest epidemiological research confirms a direct correlation, in particular as regards the fertility and exposure to carcinogens. The characteristics of the seminal fluid can be considered a valid key to understanding the entire state of human health and used for secondary prevention. Infertile subjects, of the same age, are less healthy, biologically older and their condition can be considered a wake-up call for the development of some pathologies “.
Also central in this AndroDay the theme of proper nutrition in prevention activities. “We have to work more and more on functional menus – declares the well-known chef Franco Pepe, pizza artisan, ambassador of the prevention campaign of the PRO Foundation -. The pizza must become the result of team work carried out by us creatives with trusted agronomists and nutritionists. Only in this way will it be the result of a correct balance of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids. Just this multidisciplinary approach will offer us a typical dish that is good and good for you. We remember that we are not talking about pathological obsessions for healthy eating, but about lifestyles that spare us, for example, the onset of the metabolic syndrome (association of hypertension, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, obesity), so closely related to other pathologies, not only oncological “.
“In metabolic syndrome – continues Mirone – there is a lowering of circulating levels of testosterone, closely related to diseases such as prostate cancer, erectile deficit, infertility and benign prostatic hypertrophy, a disease that afflicts more than 50% of men over 60 years old and consists of benign enlargement of the gland, with consequent difficulty in urinating. A problem that has a significant impact on the quality of life of men ”.
“On the International Day dedicated to men’s health – concludes Mirone – we want to emphasize that the risk factor for men’s health, in addition to the consumption of alcohol and cigarette smoking, to overweight and to a sedentary lifestyle, fear is becoming more and more. Our prevention campaign, which tries to reach men through those screens in front of which they spend most of their day, aims to remind them of the protective role of healthy behaviors, but also of adherence to therapies and their continuity, of participation in screening and attention to one’s own well-being, with the awareness necessary to live long and well “.
–
