No diagnosis, no cure – the Republic

Strengthen the diagnostic capacity, because only thanks to the diagnosis can one understand how to cure a disease. On the occasion of the 76th World Health Assembly, last May, experts from all over the world agreed in underlining the importance of both imaging techniques and laboratory diagnostics, recommending the adoption of an ad hoc resolution. Four key points: establish strategic national diagnostic plans with sustainable funding models, strengthen laboratory systems by maximizing the current diagnostic infrastructure, invest in dedicated personnel, adopt a regulatory framework that accelerates access to diagnostics. A unique and unprecedented opportunity to support global equity in access to fundamental solutions for our health and to respond to the main health challenges of today and tomorrow.

“The last 10 years have witnessed a true revolution in laboratory medicine both in terms of content and organization. The network reorganizations of the laboratories, the concentrations, the vocational specialization of the individual laboratories and the search for more efficient models for the management of activities without added value are just some of the reasons why the world of the laboratory has “a lot” to tell as well as inspire the rest of the NHS. And then the advent of new tests, which has renewed the fundamental importance of laboratory medicine, however enriching its contribution, from the more traditional one of diagnosis in the treatment process to the increasingly important one of the role in prevention and predictive medicine, the key to do health of initiative and protect rather than cure the population served by the NHS. And make the system more sustainable. All excellent reasons to deepen and narrate laboratory medicine with renewed energy and attention”, commented Federico Lega, Full Professor of Economics, Policy and Health Management, Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, State University of Milan.

Tests that save lives

The highly sensitive Troponin test is essential for the timely identification of acute myocardial infarction. “Laboratory Medicine is increasingly central, necessary and indispensable in all phases of the care process, from prediction and prevention, to diagnosis and differential diagnosis, to prognosis, to disease monitoring and therapy and allows in many pathologies, such as example in Acute Coronary Syndromes through the dosage of Troponin, to make an early diagnosis and to start the therapy promptly, often allowing the patient’s life to be saved”, explained Marcello Ciaccio, Full Professor of Laboratory Medicine, President of the School of Medicine and Surgery University of Palermo and Director of the Department of Laboratory Medicine of the AOUP “P. Coat”.

The increasingly sophisticated analyzes of the molecular characteristics of cancer cells are the basis of the so-called precision oncology. “Today, with the use of minimal quantities of tissue, therefore with minimally invasive sampling for the patient, it is possible to provide a consistent series of very detailed information relating to the molecular signature of the tumor, which is fundamental for defining the therapeutic pathway”, underlined Renzo Luciano Boldorini, Full Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Eastern Piedmont and Director of SCDU Pathological Anatomy and Breast Unit AOU Maggiore della Carità di Novara.

“Without forgetting the precious contribution that laboratory medicine has made during the pandemic, representing a strong incentive to implement models of collaboration with clinicians and diagnostics that can be extended to other pathologies”, said Massimo Locatelli, Medical Director of the Laboratory Medicine Service of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.

To promote the importance of laboratory diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics has created the docuseries “The Journey of the Champion – The value of diagnostics”, an initiative sponsored by Confindustria Medical Devices, which, starting from the patient, tells the “journey” inside of a laboratory of three different types of biological sample (blood tube, tissue sample and nasopharyngeal swab). The first episode dedicated to the journey of the test tube of blood is available from today, 12 July 2023, on the www.roche.it website and on the Roche Italia YouTube channel. The next two episodes will be released on a weekly basis on Wednesday 19 and 26 July.