|
The Specialist ‘Papillomavirus (HPV) and Skin Cancer’ Clinic is one of the projects arising from of the integrated activities of the University Hospital Maggiore della Carità and the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine at the University of Eastern Piedmont ‘A. Avogadro’. The initiative was born from the long-running collaboration between the Dermatology Unit (previously directed by Prof. Giorgio Leigheb and currently by Prof. Enrico Colombo) and the Laboratory of Molecular Virology (directed by Prof. Marisa Gariglio). The setting up of the Clinic was made possible thanks to the funding provided by the Foundation ‘Banca Popolare di Novara per il territorio’, which has also made it possible to provide the tests for identifying HPV infection at zero cost for the patients. All the above mentioned Institutions, as well as the ‘Papillomavirus (HPV) and Skin Cancer’ Clinic itself, are situated in Novara, and the Clinic’s services are not available only to the inhabitants of Novara, but to patients coming from all of Italy. This specialist Clinic represents an important innovation for the Piedmont Region, as well as holding particular importance on both the national and international scale since very few analogous initiatives exist, and those that do are mainly set up by private institutions.
Who can attend the HPV and Skin Cancer Clinic? The aim of the clinic is to offer diagnoses, treatments and follow-up to patients with Non Melanoma Skin Cancer and patients carrying a high-risk of developing such neoplasms (i.e. immunosuppressed patients, transplant patients and subjects suffering from haematological diseases). It is the impaired immune function in such patients that is thought to determine the onset of cutaneous neoplasms like Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC), Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC), Bowen’s Disease, keratoacanthoma and Multiple Actinic Keratoses. Recent studies indicate that HPV plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Skin Cancer in the above listed categories of high-risk subjects. Therefore, one of the aims of the clinic is to study HPV infection in these patients by means of non-invasive techniques. N.B. the clinic is not directed at the diagnosis of genital-HPV infections (condylomata, dysplasia, CIN, PIN); such diseases are caused by different HPV genotypes, and their infections require tools that are readily available in other out-patient clinics (i.e. STD clinics).
Where is the HPV and Skin Cancer Clinic located? The clinic can be found within the out-patients section of the University Hospital ‘Maggiore della Carità’ Dermatology Unit, Novara, Italy (Building G, basement).
|
