History
The Mater Salutis Hospital in Legnago was founded in 1962 as a "Hospital and Cancer Center". The Center is active in all the medical and surgical specialities, including Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine. Palliative and Supportive Care.
Profile
The Unit of Medical Oncology of the Mater Salutis Hospital (MSH)-Legnago is a member of the Department of Clinical Oncology of the Regional Health System (RHS) n. 9 of the Veneto Region. The RHS n. 9 is in charge of the maintenance of the health of residents of the province of Verona (around 930.500 residents) and administers three leading hospitals (Mater Salutis Hospital in Legnago, Fracastoro in San Bonifacio and Magalini in Villafranca). The Department of Clinical Oncology includes the Units of Medical Oncology at the Hospitals of Legnago, San Bonifacio and Villafranca and the Units of Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the MSH.
The Medical Oncology Unit's personnel consists of 7 Medical Oncologists and 2 Hematologists, 13 nurses, 3 clinical research associates and 2 secretaries. The facility includes 16 chemotherapy chairs and beds in the outpatient clinic and 2 beds in the inpatient clinic. The Unit is mainly dedicated to clinical and translational research, and during the years, more than five hundred patients were included in clinical trials. The Unit is certified as a Center of Excellence for the care of breast cancer patients by EUSOMA.
Specialities
The Unit of Medical Oncology treats common solid tumours and haematological malignancies except for acute leukaemia and lymphomas when they require a bone marrow transplant. A multidisciplinary approach and an integration between local and systemic treatments are always obtained. Particular care is dedicated to integrating anticancer treatments with several forms of supportive and palliative care.
Areas of specialisation include breast cancer (EUSOMA certified since 2017) and clinical-translational research (more than 100 clinical trials conducted and 500 patients included over the years with the support of the trial office).
Palliative and Supportive Care
Overall, in the Unit, great value is given to the time spent communicating the diagnosis, the prognosis, and the periodic review of treatments. Patient autonomy is always granted, including the decision to stop treatment and the respect of advanced directives. The Unit embraces the simultaneous care model, integrating early palliative care with disease-modifying treatments. The Specialists working in the Unit have an adequate formation and are dedicated to taking care of all the needs of cancer patients in the various stages of the disease. Thus, as a general concept, cancer patients can get an adequate response to their medical needs from the Medical Oncologists. Medical doctors and nurses from the Palliative Medicine Unit interact and support the Clinical Oncology Department health workers. Furthermore, we are committed to creating and implementing a diagnostic care path that allows the Units of Medical Oncology and Palliative Medicine to interact through a recently drafted PDTA. Each week, regular meetings are scheduled to discuss patients in charge of both Units.
Last update: November 2023
