Over 1.600 outpatient visits and more than 350 surgeries. These are the numbers that summarize the long collaboration between the Orthopedic and Traumatology Clinic III, primarily focused on oncology, of the IRCCS Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute in Bologna, and the Orthopedics and Traumatology Department of the USL Company in Piacenza. A bond initiated in 2014, which allows Piacenza residents to access highly specialized care closer to home.

The activity is made possible by the teamwork of the Bologna team led by Giuseppe Bianchi, the Piacenza Orthopedics team directed by Fabrizio Quattrini, and the Anesthesia team directed by Ruggero Massimo Corso. Thanks to the multidisciplinary contribution of all professionals, for over 12 years it has been possible to treat patients suffering from musculoskeletal neoplasms and complex cases of prosthetic revision in Piacenza. 

Activities carried out include – just to give a few examples - the treatment of benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors, the management of prosthesis-related complications, and specialized diagnostic work. The goal is to offer highly specialized care in the area, reducing transfers to Bologna or other provinces as much as possible. Most patients are in fact cared for and treated in Piacenza, while referral to Rizzoli only concerns the most complex cases, which require multidisciplinary expertise or typical pathways of a national referral center.

"If this collaboration has been working and renewed for over 12 years, is also thanks to the welcome shown by all the specialists of the Piacenza Local Health Authority: by the professionals directed by Quattrini and Corso and by all the staff of the operating sector led by coordinator Raffaella Sorsi – declares Giuseppe Bianchi, surgeon of the IOR – What we have set up is an organizational model that values the sharing of skills, reduces healthcare mobility and, above all, puts the patient's needs at the center." 

"This is an invaluable collaboration for the entire Piacenza community," echoes Fabrizio Quattrini, director of Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Piacenza Local Health Authority. "The oncology experience of Rizzoli professionals allows us to provide patients with a second-level clinic. With Dr. Bianchi, then, we have a wonderful relationship both professionally and humanly, he has now become part of the family. It helps us manage the most complex cases even remotely, and its experience also helps our younger professionals acquire skills." 

“Interventions of this complexity are based on a path that begins well before the operating room and continues well beyond. Preoperative assessment, risk management, intensive care and continuity of care are the daily contribution of anesthesia and the critical area: a teamwork with surgeons, nurses and diagnostic services that allows for the safe treatment of fragile patients and complex cases – declares Ruggero Massimo Corso, Director of Corporate Anesthesia and the Department of Emergency-Urgency and Critical Care – Collaborating permanently with a referral center like Rizzoli means consolidating high organizational standards in Piacenza and increasing the skills of our teams, with a direct benefit to citizens”.