IRCCS CROB

Scientific director

Prof. Alessandro Sgambato

The Oncology Reference Center of Basilicata (Crob) is located in Rionero in Vulture (Potenza) in northern Basilicata. On March 10, 2008, it was officially recognized (and confirmed in 2013 and 2015) as a Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare (IRCCS) by the Ministry of Health.

In 2015, Crob RCCS was accredited as a “Clinical Cancer Center” by the Organization of European Cancer Institutes (Oeci) and was awarded as one of the most efficient hospitals in Italy by the Ministry of Health during the event “Administration, citizens, businesses” organized by the national association for the quality of public policies Italiadecide.  Crob IRCCS provides the best treatments in the context of a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach to the neoplastic patient.

The Institute’s goal is to improve healthcare and patient life quality, adopting the principle of person centrality, particularly gender medicine and gender mainstreaming. The IRCCS Crob has also obtained the biennium 2016/2017 three pink stickers, the highest recognition of the National Observatory on Women’s Health (Onda).

The hospital includes a single building, with a covered area of 32,000 square meters, 102 beds for non-chronic patients and 8 beds for patients in palliative care. The complete management of solid adult tumours and hematologic neoplasms is ensured by two clinical departments (Onco-Hematology, Surgery) and two diagnostic and therapeutic departments, including Radiotherapy, Nuclear Medicine, Analytical Laboratory, Endoscopy, Radiology and Pathological Anatomy. A fifth, Functional Department coordinates the mentioned four departments for Clinical Governance, including Cardiology, Pharmacy and Psychology. Dialysis is also active.

Principal activities include: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, palliative care, thoracic, abdominal, breast, urologic, gynecologic and plastic surgery with specialized outpatient clinics in reconstructive; a pain therapy unit (vertebro/kyph-oplasty, vertebral stabilization); 3D video-mediastinal thoracoscopy and 3D laparoscopic radical prostatectomy; conformal, brachial- and intraoperative radiotherapy and metabolic therapies; PET-CT with new tracers and volumetric assessment of neoplastic metabolism; 3 Tesla MRI with laser guidance system for micro-biopsies and high intensity focusing ultrasound (HIFU) technology for the treatment of localized tumours; telemedicine support (oncologists, hematologist, nurses) and IT risk management.

Currently, the annual number of ordinary hospitalizations is about 3,000, day-hospital hospitalizations about 11,000, while the number of outpatient visits and services and examinations is approximately 43,000 and 420,000, respectively. The Crob IRCCS exerts strong attraction from neighboring regions, and in general, the percentage of patients coming from outside the area is close to 50%.

The Institute coordinates the Basilicata Cancer Registry and regional screening to prevent breast, uterine and colorectal cancer. The operating unit of hematology has obtained Jacie accreditation for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (Joint Accreditation Committee of Isct and Ebmt), and nuclear medicine has obtained EANM/UEMS/AINM accreditation, and radiotherapy has obtained ISO9001 certification.

The current number of researchers operating at Crob IRCCS is about 60. The Clinical and Translational Research Laboratories, which occupy an area of about 1,600 square meters, are equipped with all the necessary facilities for advanced cytofluorimetry and sorting analysis, molecular cytogenetics, and immunohistochemistry diagnostics, as well as cell cultures, genomic analysis, including next-generation sequencing (Illumina platform), bio-banking and liquid biopsy.

About 500 scientific papers have been published so far in peer-reviewed journals, and about 270 clinical trials have been activated until now (including phase I and registration studies), with more than 4,300 patients enrolled. Crob IRCCS researchers are well-positioned in the first third of the 49 Italian IRCCS in terms of impact factor and citation index.

The Associates

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