Senology

Chirurgia generale II
Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia generale
Azienda Ospedaliero - Universitaria Careggi
Viale Morgagni 85 - Florence
Tel. 055-7947952
Fax 4379572

Principal investigator: Luigi Cataliotti

Team members
Roberta Simoncini
Claudio Calabrese
Lorenzo Orzalesi
Lorenzo Galli
Catherina Urena
Lorenza Marotti (data manager)

Introduction

From more that 20 years the Unit carries out an intensive activity not only from a clinical point of view, but also concerning teaching, scientific production, organisation of meetings and congresses, collaboration with National and International Societies and Institutions.

The Unit is entirely dedicated to breast cancer care and treats yearly about 600 new cases.
Multidisciplinary approach is the base condition to offer patients the best targeted care.

Since 1990 the Unit is a referring centre for the practical training in breast cancer care within the training programme of the Italian School of Senology.
Since 1999 the Unit is the Regional reference centre for surgical treatment of breast disease.

The Unit, in the person of its Director, organises every two year “Attualità in Senologia”, the Italian Congress on Breast Cancer which gathers together the National Breast Cancer Societies, representing the different specialities.
The Director of the Unit, has been President of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and for nine years President of the European Society of Mastology (EUSOMA). He has lead the development of the Society activity, such as the publication of European referring guidelines on various topics, i.e, loco-regional treatment, endocrine therapy, management of LCIS, alternative medicine; the development of training projects for young specialists in Breast Cancer coming from Eastern European Countries; the creation and set up of an accreditation process for Breast Units.
In the person of Prof. Vito Distante, President of GISMa, the Italian Group for Mammography Screening, the Unit, is also involved in the activity of this group, which promotes diffusion of mammography screening all over Italy, quality control, training activity and research projects within the screening programmes.

The Unit is an Affiliated Department of European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).
The Unit also participate in the development of EORTC new trials on breast cancer , being Prof. Cataliotti a member of the Breast Group Steering Committee.
The clinical research activity of the Unit mainly consists of clinical trials at National and International level.

Main research themes

The research activity of the Unit is entirely dedicated to Breast Cancer.
The Unit participates in trials covering different aspects related to the improvement of breast cancer care such as:

  1. new technology in the loco-regional treatment
    • EORTC: AMAROS: After Mapping of the Axilla: Radiotherapy or Surgery?
    • Radiotherapy Unit of the Dept. of Fisiopatologia Clinica , University of Florence: Postoperative radiotherapy on whole breast versus postoperative partial breast irradiation only on the excised quadrant by IMRT in patients with early breast cancer.
  2. Chemoprevention
    • Cancer UK – Barts and the London: IBIS II: An international multicentre study of anastrozole in post-menopausal women at increased risk of breast cancer
  3. neo-adjuvant hormonal treatment
    • Astrazeneca: PROACT: “The Pre-operative “Arimidex” compared to Tamoxifen”: Comparison of Anastrozole versus Tamoxifen as Preoperative Therapy in Postmenopausal Women with Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer.
    • Novartis: CRAD001C2222: Multicentre, randomised double-blind, controlled versus placebo, phase II study to evaluate the efficacy of RAD001 combined with letrozole (femara) as pre-operative treatment in early breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
  4. hormonal treatment
    • Astrazeneca: ITA: The Italian tamoxifen anastrozole trial” : an Italian multicentre study cmparing the switch to anastrozole after 2-3 years of treatment with tamoxifen, versus 5 years of treatment with tamoxifen only.
    • EORTC: 10983: A phase III randomised double blind study of letrozole versus placebo in women with primary breast cancer completing five or more years of adjuvant tamoxifen.
    • EORTC: 10967: Randomised double-blind trial in postmenopausal women with primary breast cancer who have received adjuvant Tamoxifen for 2-3 years, comparing subsequent adjuvant Examestane with further Tamoxifen. An inter-group study.
    • Cancer UK – Barts and the London: IBIS II: An international mulitcentre study of tamoxifen versus anastrozole in post-menopausal women with ductal carcinoma in situ
  5. adjuvant chemotherapy
    • EORTC 10011: HERA:A ranomised phase III, three arm multicentre comparison of 1 year and2 years of Herceptin® versus no Herceptin® in women with HER2 positive primary breast cancer, who have completed adjuvant chemotherapy.
    To be activated:
    • EORTC and BIG: MINDACT: Microarray in Node-negative Disease may Avoid Chemotherapy. A prospective randomised study comparing the 70-gene signature with the common clinical-pathological criteria in selecting patients for adjuvant chemotherapy in node negative breast cancer
    • EORTC: 10002: A survey of the Beast International Group (B.I.G) to assess the attitude of patients aged less than 35 years with early breast cancer, towards the risk of loss of fertility related to adjuvant therapies

Main collaborations

  • Centro per lo Studio e la Prevenzione Oncologica (CSPO)
  • EUSOMA
  • EORTC
  • European School of Oncology
  • European Society of Surgical Oncology
  • European Institute of Oncology
  • Scuola Italiana di Senologia
  • Società Italiana di Senologia
  • Federation of European Cancer Society
  • Breast Health Institute

Publications

In International Journals:

  1. N. Bijker, E.J. Rutgers, L. Duchateau, J.L. Peterse, J.P. Julien, L. Cataliotti; EORTC Breast Cancer Cooperative Group
    Breast-conserving therapy for Paget disease of the nipple: a prospective European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer study of 61 patients.
    Cancer 91: 472-477. 2001
  2. N. Perry on behalf of the Eusoma Working Party: L. Cataliotti, A.R.M. Wilson, et al Quality assurance in the diagnosis of breast disease.
    EJC 37 159-172 2001
  3. E.J.Th. Rutgers for the Eusoma Consensus Group: H. Bartelink, R. Blamey, M. Blichert-Toft, L. Cataliotti et al Quality control in the locoregional treatment of breast cancer
    EJC 37 447-453 2001
  4. M. Piccart, L. Cataliotti, M. Buchanan, G. Freilich, J. Jassem
    Brussels Statement document
    EJC 37: 1335-1337 2001
  5. P. Pinzani, C. Orlando, CC Raggi, V. Distante, R. Valanzano, C. Tricarico, M. Maggi, M. Serio, M. Pazzagli
    Type-2 somatostatin receptor mRNA levels in breast and colon cancer determinated by a quantitative RT-PCR assay based on dual label fluorogenic probe and the TaqMan technology.
    Regul PEpt 2001 Jun 15; 99 (2-3); 79-86
  6. L. Cataliotti, C. Calabrese, L. Orzalesi
    The response of the surgeon to changing patterns in breast cancer diagnosis.
    EJC. 37 Suppl 7: S19-31 2001
  7. S. Zurrida, R. Orecchia, V. Galimberti, A. Luini, I. Giannetti, B. Ballardini, A. Amadori, G. Veronesi, U. Veronesi, for Italian Oncological Senology Group: L. Cataliotti et al
    Axillary radiotherapy instead of axillary dissection: a randomized trial.
    Ann Surg Oncol. 9(2): 156-60 2002
  8. G.F. Schwartz, A.E. Giuliano, U. Veronesi, the consensus conference committee, L. Cataliotti
    Proceedings of the consensus conference on the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy in carcinoma of the breast, April 19-22, 2001, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    Cancer 15;94(10):2542-2551 2002
  9. E. Paci, S.W. Duffy, D. Giorgi, M. Zappa, E. Crocetti, V. Vezzosi, S. Bianchi, L. Cataliotti, M. Rosselli Del Turco
    Are breast cancer screening programmes increasing rates of mastectomy? Observational study.
    BMJ. Aug 24; 325(7361): 418 2002
  10. N. Bijker, J.L. Peterse, I.S. Fentiman, J.P. Julien, A.A. Hart, A. Avril, L. Cataliotti, E.J. Rutgers
    Effects of patient selection on the applicability of results from a randomised clinical trial (EORTC 10853) investigating breast-conserving therapy for DCIS.
    BJC. Sep 9; 87(6): 615-620. 2002
  11. R.W. Blamey, On Behalf Of EUSOMA Working Party: H. Bartelink, M. Baum, F. Boccardo, L. Cataliotti, H. Cortes Funes, J.C.J.M. De Haes, L. Fallowfield, A. Goldhirsch, M. Greco, K. Holli, R. Jakesz, J. Jaskiewicz, M. Welnika-Jaskiewicz, W. Jonat, M. Kaufmann, M. Kerin, J. Klijn, P.E. Lonning, W. Miller, H. Mouridsen, T. Nagykalnai, P. Neven, R. Nicholson, M. Piccart, C. Rose, E. Rutgers, L. Rutqvist, B.J.K. Thutlimann
    Guidelines on endocrine therapy of breast cancer
    EJC 38: 615-634 2002
  12. C. Tricarico, P. Pinzani, S. Bianchi, M. Paglierani, V. Distante, M. Pazzagli, SA. Bustin. C. Orlando, Quantitative real –time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction: normalisation to rRNA or single housekeeping genes is inappropriate for human tissue biopsies Anal Biochem. 2002 October 15; 309(2): 293-300
  13. J. Kurtz, H. Bartelink, L. Cataliotti, J. Cuzick, et al The curative role of radiotherapy in the treatment of operable breast cancer. Eur J Cancer;38(15):1961-74 2002
  14. M. Baum, M. Buchanan, J. Baselga, L. Cataliotti, J. Jassem, M. Piccart The future of breast cancer research in danger. EJC. Nov; 38(17):2210-2213 2002
  15. V. Distante, M.P. Mano, A. Ponti, L. Cataliotti, L. Filippini, D. Giorgi, M.G. Lazzaretti, C. Marchesi, E. Perfetti, N. Segnan; GISMa Group Monitoring surgical treatment of screen-detected breast lesions in Italy. Eur. J. Cancer 40: 1006-1012 2004
  16. C. Orlando, C.C Raggi, S. Bianchi, V. Distante, L. Simi, V. Vezzosi, S. Gelmini, P. Pinzani, M.C. Smith, A. Buonamano, E. Lazzeri, M. Pazzagli, L. Cataliotti, M. Maggi, M. Serio Measurement of somatostatin receptor subtype 2 mRNA in breast cancer and corresponding normal tissue. Endocr. Relat. Cancer; 11(2): 323-32 2004
  17. J. Jassem, M. Buchanan, F. Janicke, M. Baum, L. Cataliotti, S. Kyriakides, M. Piccart, E.J. Rutgers, A. Costa The Hamburg statement: the partnership driving the European agenda on breast cancer Eur. J. Cancer; 40(12):1810-1 2004
  18. S. Gelmini, M. Poggesi, V. Distante, S. Bianchi, L. Simi, M. Luconi, C.C. Raggi, L. Cataliotti, M. Pazzagli, C. Orlando Tankyrase, a positive regulator of telomere elongation, is over expressed in human breast cancer. Cancer Lett.; 216(1): 81-7 2004
  19. B. Brancato, M. Zappa, D. Bricolo, S. Catarzi, G. Risso, R. Bonardi, P. Cariaggi, A. Bianchin, P. Bricolo, M. Rosselli Del Turco, L. Cataliotti, S. Bianchi, S. Ciatto Role of ultrasound-guided fine needle cytology of axillary lymph nodes in breast carcinoma staging Radiol. Med. (Torino); 108(4):345-55 2004
  20. B. Salvadori, P. Pinzani, V. Distante, D. Casella, S. Bianchi, M. Paglierani, V. Vezzosi, R. Neumann, L. Cataliotti, M. Pazzagli, C. Orlando Comparison of pre-and postsurgical concetrations of blood HER-2 mRNA and HER-2 extracellular domain reflects HER-2 status in early breast cancer Clin. Chem; 51(1): 254-6 2005
  21. U. Veronesi, R. Orecchia, S. Zurrida, V. Galimberti, A. Luini, P. Veronesi, G. Gatti, G. D’Aiuto, L. Cataliotti, R. Paolucci, P. Piccolo, N. Massaioli, P. Sismondi, A. Rulli, F. Lo Sardo, A. Recalcati, D. Terribile, A. Acerbi, N. Rotmensz, P. Maisonneuve Avoiding axillary dissection in breast cancer surgery: a randomized trial to assess the role of axillary radiotherapy Ann. Oncol.; 16(3): 383-8 2005
  22. L. Livi, F. Paiar, E. Meldolesi, S. Bianchi, G. Cardona, L. Cataliotti, E. Crocetti, V. Distante, G. Simontacchi, S. Scoccianti, C. Talamonti, S. Pallotta, G.P. Biti The management of elderly patients with T1-T2 breast cancer treated with or without radiotherapy Eur. J. Surg. Oncol.; 31(5): 473-8 2005
  23. F. Boccardo; A. Rubagotti, M. Puntoni, P. Guglielmini, D. Amoroso, A. Fini, G. Paladini, M. Mesiti, D. Romeo, M. Rinaldini, S. Scali, M. Porpiglia, C. Benedetto, N. Restuccia, F. Buzzi, R. Franchi, B. Massidda, V. Distante, D. Amadori, P. Sismondi Switching to anastrozole versus continued tamoxifen treatment of early breast cance: preliminary results of the Italian Tamoxifen Anastrozole Trial J Clin Oncol 2005 Aug 1; 23(22): 5138-47
  24. M. Gacci, L. Orzalesi, V. Distante, G. Nesi, V. Vezzosi, L. Livi, V. Mungai, P. Romagnani, B. Eisner, M. Carini Renal cell carcinoma metastatic to the breast and breast cancer metastatic to the kidney: to rare solitary metastases Breast J 2005 Sep-Oct; 11(5): 351-2
  25. L. Cataliotti, A.U. Buzdar, S. Noguchi, J. Bines, Y. Takatsuka, K. Petrakova, P. Dube, C.T. de Oliveira Comparison of anastrozole versus tamoxifen as preoperative theraphy in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer: the Pre-Operative “Arimidex” Compared to Tamoxifen (PROACT) trial Cancer; 106(10): 2095-103 2006
  26. P. Pinzani, B. Salvadori, L. Simi, S. Bianchi, V. Distante, L. Cataliotti, M. Pazzagli, C. Orlando Isolation by size of epithelial tumor cells in peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer: correlation with real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction results and feasibility of molecular analysis by laser microdissection Hum. Pathol.; 37(6): 711-8 2006
  27. R.W. Blamey, L. Cataliotti EUSOMA Accreditation of breast units Eur. J. Cancer; 42(10): 1331-7 2006
  28. L. Livi, F. Paiar, G. Simontacchi, R. Barca, B. Detti, S. Fondelli, P. Bastiani, R. Santini, V. Scotti, S. Bianchi, L. Cataliotti, V. Mungai, G. Biti Loco regional failure pattern after lumpectomy and breast irradiation in 4185 patients with T1 and T2 breast cancer. Implications for nodal irradiation. Acta Oncol.; 45(5): 564-70 2006
  29. GH. Saforafas, G. Peros, L. Cataliotti, G. Vlastos Lymphedema following axillary lymph node dissection for breast cancer Surg Oncol. 2006 Nov; 15(3):153-65. Epub 2006 Dec 21
  30. GH. Saforafas, G. Peros, L. Cataliotti Sequelae following axillary lymph node dissection for breast cancer. Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2006 Nov; 6(11):1629-38 Review
  31. A. Ponti, MP. Mano, V. Distante, M. Taffurelli, C. Naldoni, F. Zangirolami, M. Vettorazzi, M. Zorzi, G. Pagano, A. Federici, D. Baiocchi, R. Bordon, M. Tomatis, P. Mantellini, L. Cataliotti, M. Rosselli Del Turco, N. Segnan Audit system on Quality of Breast cancer diagnosis and Treatment (QT): results from the survey on screen-detected lesions in Italy, 2003-2004 Epidemiol Prev. 2006 Jan-Feb; 30(1 Suppl. 3): 59-63
  32. F. Boccardo; A. Rubagotti, P. Guglielmini, A. Fini, G. Paladini, M. Mesiti, M. Rinaldini, S. Scali, M. Porpiglia, C. Benedetto, N. Restuccia, F. Buzzi, R. Franchi, B. Massidda, V. Distante, D. Amadori, P. Sismondi Switching to anastrozole versus continued tamoxifen treatment of early breast cancer. Updated results of the Italian tamoxifen anastrozole (ITA) trial Ann Oncol 2006 Jun; 17 Suppl.7: vii 10-vii14
  33. L. Livi, F. Paiar, C. Saieva, G. Simontacchi, J. Nori, L. Sanchez, R. Santini, M. Mangoni, S. Fondelli, V. Distante, S. Bianchi, G. Biti Breast Cancer in the elderly: treatment of 1500 patients Breast J 2006 Jul- Aug; 12(4): 353-9
  34. J. Nori, E. Vanzi, M. Bazzocchi, FN. Bufalini, V. Distante, F. Branconi, T. Susini Role of axillary ultrasound examination in the selection of breast camcer patients for sentinel node biopsy Am J Surg 2007 Jan; 193(1): 16-20
  35. L. Cataliotti, C. De Wolf, R. Holland, L. Marotti, N. Perry, K. Redmond, M. Rosselli Del Turco, H. Rijken, N. Kearney, I.O. Ellis, A. Di Leo, R. Orecchia, A. Noel, M. Andersson, W. Audretsch, N. Bjurstam, R.W. Blamey, M. Blichert-Toft, H. Bosmans, A. Burch, G. Bussolati, M.R. Christiaens, M. Colleoni, G. Cserni, T. Cufer, S. Cush, J. Damilakis, M. Drijkoningen, P. Ellis, J. Foubert, M. Gambaccinia, E. Gentile, F. Guedea, J. Hendriksac, R. Jakesza, J. Jassem, B.A. Jereczek-Fossa, O. Laird, E. Lartigau, W. Mattheiem, N. O’Higgins, E. Pennery, D. Rainsbury, E. Rutgers, M. Smola, E. Van Limbergen, K. von Smitten, C. Wells, R. Wilson, on behalf of EUSOMA Guidelines on the standards for the training of specialised health professionals dealing with breast cancer. Eur J Cancer.2007 Mar:;43(4):660-75. Epub 2007 Feb 5
  36. L. Livi, F. Paiar, C. Saieva, S. Scoccianti, D. Di Cosmo, S. Borghesi, B. Agresti. F. Nosi, L. Orzalesi, R. Santini, R. Barca, GP. Biti Survival and Breast relapse in 3834 patients with T1-T2 Breast Cancer after conserving surgery and adjuvant treatment. Radiother. Oncol. 2007 Mar; 82(3):287-93
  37. A. Ponti, MP. Mano, V. Distante, D. Baiocchi; R. Bordon; A. Federici, A. Frigerio; P. Mantellini, C. Naldoni, G. Pagano, A. Sapino, M. Taffurelli, M. Tomatis, M. Vettorazzi, F. Zangirolami, M. Zorzi, L. Cataliotti, M. Rosselli Del Turco, N. Segnan Audit system on Quality of breast cancer diagnosis and Treatment (QT): results from the survey on screen-detected lesions in Italy, 2004 Epidemiol Prev. 2007 Mar-Jun; 31 (2-3 Suppl. 2): 69-75

In Italian Journals:

  1. M.P. Mano, V. Distante, A. Ponti, M. Segnan, R. Bordon, R. Simoncini, L. Cataliotti, Gruppo trattamento GISMA Monitoraggio e promozione della qualità del trattamento del carcinoma mammario nei programmi di screening e nelle unità di senologia in Italia. Attualità in Senologia suppl. 1 2001
  2. B. Brancato, M. Zappa, D. Bricolo, S. Catarzi, G. Risso, R. Bonardi, P. Cariaggi, A. Bianchin, P. Bricolo, M. Rosselli Del Turco, L. Cataliotti, S. Bianchi, S. Ciatto Ruolo della citologia con ago sottile ecoguidata dei linfonodi ascellari nella stadiazione del carcinoma mammario. Radiologia Medica; vol. 108: 345-55 2004
  3. C. Casini Raggi, P. Pinzani, S. Gelmini, C. Tricarico, C. Orlando, A. Calabro, D. Renzi, F. Cianchi, R. Valanzano, V. Distante, C. Cortesini, F. Tonelli, L. Cataliotti, M. Cameron Smith, L. Messerini, S. Bianchi, M. Pazzagli, M. Serio, M. Maggi Recettori perla somatosteina in tumori non endocrini Minerva Endocrinol. 26(3):149-58 2001
  4. J Nori, M. Bazzocchi, C. Boeri, E. Vanzi, F. Nori Bufalini, G. Mangialavori, V. Distante, A. Masi, R. Simoncini, V. Londero Role of axillary limph node ultrasound and large core biopsy in the preoperative assessment of patients selected for sentinel node biobsy Radiol Med (Torino)2005 Apr.; 109(4):330-44
  5. V. Distante, S. Ciatto, A. Frigerio, C. Naldoni, E. Paci, A. Ponti, MR. Del Turco, M. Vettorazzi, M. Zappa Recommendations of a national Italian consensus conference on the opportunity of extending screening service by mammography to 40-49 and 70-74 years of age women. Epidemiol Prev 2007 Jan-Feb; 31(1): 15-22.

Articles published in books:

  1. Ponti, V. Distante, M.P. Mano, L. Cataliotti Qualità del trattamento chirurgico nello screening Attualità in Senologia 31: 13-15 2001
  2. N. Ascunce, R.W. Blamey, M. Blichert-Toft, R. Bordon, M. Broeders, J. Caseldine, L. Cataliotti European Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Mammography Screening in N. Perry, M. Broeders, C. de Wolf, S. Tornberg Editors, pp. 1-366 Europe against cancer. European Commission 2001
  3. L. Cataliotti, V. Distante, L. Orzalesi, S. Bianchi, S. Ciatto, R. Simoncini, C. Saieva Ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast. 2nd edition, M.J. Silverstein, A. Recht, M.D. Lagios Edts The Florence experience - 348-353 2002 Lippincott Williams e Wilkins 2002
  4. A. Nannelli, C. Calabrese, L. Cataliotti Controlateral breast adjustement and nipple reconstruction in G. Querci della Rovere, J. R. Benson, M. Breach, M. Nava. Oncoplastic and reconstructive surgery of the Breast. London 2004
  5. L. Cataliotti, V. Distante, S. Bianchi, L. Orzalesi The importance of resections margins in conservative surgery in G. Querci della Rovere, R. Warren, J.R. Benson. Early Breast Cancer from screening to multisciplinary management. Ed. Taylor & Francis 2006 pp.381-388
  6. European guidelines for quality assurance in breast cancer screening and diagnosis (Fourth edition) European commission 2006

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