Oncologic Disease

Examining the relationship between information load, symptom severity, and empowerment level in outpatient cancer patients is of great importance for developing holistic care plans tailored to the individual needs of patients and for planning supportive interventions in oncology nursing.

To evaluate the effectiveness of an Adapted Physical Activity (APA) program in improving functional capacity and reducing frailty in older adults following hospital discharge. The aim is to determine whether a structured program of personalized exercises improves mobility, strength, and quality of life compared to standard care.

Postoperative complications after gastrointestinal (GI) surgery remain a major source of morbidity, mortality, prolonged hospitalisation, and healthcare costs. Early identification of complications is essential to reduce the burden of this issue on individual patients and the healthcare system. In the immediate postoperative period, clinical parameters and laboratory biomarkers, particularly inflammatory markers such as white blood cell count, C-reactive protein (CRP), and procalcitonin (PCT), may be altered as a result of an evolving surgical complication, but may also reflect the physiological inflammatory response to surgical trauma. In daily clinical practice, clinicians are frequently required to determine when such deviations justify escalation to second-level diagnostic investigations, including computed tomography or invasive procedures, and when continued observation is appropriate. Acting too early may lead to unnecessary investigations, whereas delayed recognition of pathological trends may result in missed opportunities for timely intervention. The vast majority of these decisions are based on clinical experience and on studies focusing on static assessments of biomarkers at specific time points. However, there is a lack of studies evaluating the dynamic trends of these markers over the postoperative period and providing objective measures to guide clinical decision-making. The DYNAMIC-GI study is a snapshot study designed to evaluate how the temporal trends of routinely collected clinical and laboratory markers are associated with the development of postoperative complications after elective or urgent GI surgery. It aims to provide solid, objective evidence on the timing, magnitude, and comprehensive evaluation of postoperative markers to improve early risk stratification and inform clinical decision-making in the postoperative setting. Additionally, the study will explore whether specific postoperative inflammatory trajectories may facilitate more rational antimicrobial management, including the safe de-escalation of antibiotic therapy in patients without evidence of evolving postoperative complications.

This observational clinical study aims to investigate the incidence and risk factors of post-induction hypotension (PIH) in geriatric cancer patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia. PIH is defined as a drop in mean arterial pressure of ≥30% from baseline or below 65 mmHg within the first 20 minutes after anesthesia induction, prior to surgical stimulation. The primary objective is to determine the frequency of PIH in elderly oncology patients. Secondary objectives include evaluating the association of PIH with age, ASA score, cancer type, oncological treatments (chemotherapy/radiotherapy), comorbidities, medication use, anemia, biochemical parameters, and preoperative perfusion index (PI) and pleth variability index (PVI). Findings from this study are expected to contribute to improved perioperative management and to the development of tailored anesthesia protocols for geriatric oncology patients.

Currently, the molecular characterization of onco-hematological, onco-immunological and hematological diseases, at onset or in relapse, of patients with suspected diagnosis afferent to the CROP centers, is done through centralization of biological samples at reference laboratories outside the Tuscany Region. In order to preserve the wealth of clinical and biological data and use it for the benefit of present and future patients treated at the CROP centers, it is useful to evaluate the feasibility of centralization and molecular typing of mutations present in tumor tissue at the IRCCS AOU Meyer Oncohematology Laboratories and subsequently the analysis of clinical data from patients with diseases not under study to lay the foundations of a translational database that can then be associated with a biobank in the future. This will enable a targeted contribution to pediatric oncohematology research, investing in possible targeted therapies with those patient subgroups that benefit from personalized disease assessment in mind. The goal of the project is to improve the regional infrastructure dedicated to organized data collection and management of biological samples in adequate time resulting in better and more comprehensive data collection.