Since 1999, 11th May has been in the medical calendar as European Melanoma Day (or simply ‘Euromelanoma’). Originating in Belgium, 24 countries now participate in this campaign, which highlights the importance of preventative action, early diagnosis, and appropriate treatment in the battle against skin cancer.

Interview with Henrique Nabais and Filipa Silva on the occasion of World Ovarian Cancer Day, celebrated on May 8th. 

Ovarian cancer is the eighth most frequent cancer and the seventh most prevalent cause of death by cancer in women. In Portugal, in 2020, 560 new cases were diagnosed, and 408 deaths occurred, proving that this relatively rare cancer is highly lethal.

Maria (fictional name) has a scheduled surgical intervention to remove a malignant tumour from one of her breasts. She is the pre-op room, waiting to go into the OR, where the surgery will be performed under general anaesthetics. No wonder she feels anxious, her heart beats very fast, and she is unable to think about anything else right now. Her blood pressure is also going up.

Carla Malveiro is responsible, at the Champalimaud Foundation (FC), for implementing oncological patients’ physical exercise programmes, particularly for women undergoing treatment at the Foundation’s Breast Unit. As a doctoral student from the Human Motricity Faculty (FMH) of the University of Lisbon, the 41-year-old exercise physiologist, specialising in oncology, has worked at the Foundation since October.

Cancer patients comprise about 15-20% of all patients admitted into Intensive Care Units (Bos et al. 2015; Shimalbukuro-Vornhagen et al. 2016); Approximately 50% of these admissions are due to surgical procedures, while the other 50% is related to medical causes, with only 3.3% corresponding to specific causes of oncological disease (Puxty et al. 2015).
 

March was Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month. In this short video, Cristina João, Haemato-oncologist of the Haemato-oncology Unit at the Champalimaud Foundation, explains what this pathology is and talks about the activities that the Unit has developed for improving the care of people with Multiple Myeloma. She also points out that, in addition to clinical activity, the Haemato-Oncology Unit does translational research through the Foundation's Lymphoma and Myeloma Research Group, which she leads.

Neste último vídeo da série, Laura Fernández, Cirurgiã Colorretal, fala da investigação da equipa sobre o Protocolo Watch&Wait (W&W).

Em estudos recentes, mostraram que a probabilidade de os doentes com cancro retal, que permanecem livres de tumores durante cinco anos, voltarem a desenvolver a doença é quase nula. Atualmente, a equipa está a tentar determinar quais os doentes, integrados no programa W&W, que serão mais susceptíveis de apresentar metástases.