treatment

FC Barcelona’s Coach has landed on Tuesday morning, at about 8:05 at Barcelona El Prat Airport, after two months in New York when dealing with his illness. Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira, who joined him on the flight home, will be taking this afternoon’s training session at the Ciutat Esportiva. Last December Vilanova underwent surgery for his parotid ailment relapse and in January he flew to the States to continue with his cancer treatment. In late 2011, Tito Vilanova had a first tumour removed from his parotid gland.

The Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) has introduced a world pioneering technique which allows four out of five patients who cannot undergo surgery to survive the illness. This technique causes less after-effects than the traditional radiotherapy. Furthermore, statistics show that with the regular treatment, two thirds of these patients die. However, Ferran Gadea, the Head of the Radiotherapy and Oncology Service, says that the best option to cure a lung cancer is still to undergo the operation when possible.

This is a real stride for the cancer research. The effects of a protein called condensing on colorectal cancer have been found out by a team of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry experts, at the Research Centre for Nanomedicine (CIBBIN-Nanomedicine) at the Vall d'Hebon Research Institute. The researchers have discovered that condensin helps the tumor cells to divide rapidly, so its inhibition leads to the death of tumour cells. The results of this research were published in the 'Journal of Biology and Chemistry', and they constitute a real hope for the fight against colorectal cancer.

Researchers from the Catalan Institute of Oncology have led the largest international study on breast cance4r and nutrition. The 8-year study has been based on 335,062 women between 35 and 70 years old. It has involved 23 centres in 10 European countries and it has been published in the ‘International Journal of Cancer’. The study concludes that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 6% among women in general and 7% in the case of post-menopausal patients.

A research group led by Catalan doctor Joaquim Bellmunt at the Hospital del Mar has shown in a study how important the time between two chemotherapy treatments is in increasing the curing rates of bladder cancer. The study was published by the journal ‘European Urology’ and has encouraged the researchers to develop new drugs for treating this type of tumour.

FC Barcelona’s Medical Services announce that Barça Manager, Tito Vilanova, has a suffered parotid ailment relapse. Vilanova will undergo surgery on Thursday. Later on he will receive chemotherapy and radiation treatment for approximately six weeks. The treatment may be compatible with Vilanova’s work life.

Scientists from the Colorectal Cancer Laboratory at the Barcelona Institute of Biomedical Research (IRB) have discovered the essential process that allows colon cancer cells to metastasise. They have concluded that tumour cells need to form alliances with healthy cells in order to be able to colonise other organs. Tumour cells can survive in the transition period during the metastasis process thanks to a protein (interleukin-11), which is produced by healthy cells that are exposed to another protein (TGF-beta) present in the tumour’s microenvironment. This discovery may lead to new treatments and diagnostic proceedings for colon cancer patients. A test to predict relapse cases and target treatments is likely to be ready in 5 years. The study has been published by the prestigious journal Cancer Cell.

The New York-based centre is considered the world’s best hospital in the fight against cancer. Dr. Baselga will direct a team of 834 doctors attending more than 123,000 patients per year. The Catalan doctor is currently Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Associate Director of the MGH Cancer Center, and Scientific Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona. Furthermore, Dr. Baselga holds a Chair of Medicine at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). The Catalan doctor will combine his new job in New York, which will start on January 1st, with his position in Barcelona’s centre.

The Catalan Government is obliged to reduce the public deficit and the public healthcare system is also subsequently affected by the budget cuts. Doctor and nursing unions are mobilised, while salary reduction and temporary lay offs are being discussed. Waiting lists have increased due to some hospital services being partially and temporarily closed, especially during the summer months. Many citizens have been protesting, in different demonstrations. The Catalan Health Ministry announced new maximum waiting times for severe interventions. In addition, some hospitals are reopening some operating rooms.

The study by the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute has managed to demonstrate that a molecule similar to glucose can cause the death of cancerous cells. The research would enable to shortly develop treatments for the alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.

"This could mean a breakthrough in the fight against cancer," said the head of the study Juan Angel Recio from Barcelona-based Vall d’Hebron Research Institute.

The new drug, called ‘Eribulin’, improves the survival rate of patients with a metastasis from breast cancer by 20%. The drug has been developed by a multinational team lead by staff from Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron Hospital. The study has been published in the reference medical journal ‘The Lancet’.

A new technique has been put into place that enables more precise irradiations, affecting surrounding organs less and thus minimising secondary effects. The Catalan monographic hospital is the 2nd in Spain to use this technique.