The Regional registry of Mesotheliomas collects cases with a diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma
The main activities of the register are:
1) Acquisition and processing of information sources on new mesothelioma diagnoses, such as pathological reports, mortality.
2) Standardized diagnosis of mesothelioma.
All health care providers (hospitals, university departments, pathologic anatomy services) send to the Services for Prevention, Hygiene and Safety in the Workplace (SPISAL) of Local Health Authorities the available documentation for each case (including suspected cases) of malignant mesothelioma.
A standard interpretative grid allows the classification of cases into classes depending on the degree of diagnostic certainty.
3) Reporting of new cases of mesothelioma to Local Health Authorities; anamnestic evaluation.
The regional registry checks the information collected by SPISAL on new cases. The registry retrieves additional potential cases from information sources detailed in point 1 and send this list to SPISAL.
4) Definition of asbestos exposure.
The analysis of the patient’s professional history, together with information on lifestyle and residential history is conducted in accordance with a specific national protocol including the compilation of a standard questionnaire. The standard classification including different levels enables to asses, according to homogeneous criteria, the presence (or absence) of asbestos exposure, and to assign a probability of asbestos exposure to each case.
5) Archives update
Inclusion of new cases in the regional register, case transfer to other CORs and to the Italian National Register of Malignant Mesotheliomas.
6) Participation in collaborative projects with the Italian National Register of Malignant Mesotheliomas
The seventh report of the Italian National Mesothelioma Register, covering the incidence of the disease for the period 1993-2018, was published in December 2021.
Participation to the following national projects: “Malignant mesothelioma of pericardium and vaginal tunic of testis: survival, prognostic factors and therapy”; “The impact of COVID-19 on new mesothelioma diagnoses in Italy” (Thorac Cancer. 2022 Mar;13(5):702-707. doi: 10.1111/1759-7714.14296. Epub 2022 Jan 25); “Case-control study of peritoneal mesothelioma and asbestos”; “Incidence of mesothelioma in young people and characteristics of exposure to asbestos”.
7) Training for health professionals working in SPISAL
Organization of the regional training course: “Previous exposure to asbestos, activity of the Regional Mesothelioma Register” (May-June 2022).