Russian oncologists conducted a unique scientific experiment

On February 5, 2021, Russian oncologists made a real scientific breakthrough. For the first time in the world, a multidisciplinary team of Russian doctors successfully conducted a unique scientific and medical experiment by performing an isolated brain perfusion procedure, which can become one of the most promising methods of treating patients with oncological diseases of the head and neck organs.

The operation was performed on the baboon – hamadryad model and took place on the basis of the Research Institute of Medical Primatology in Sochi with the participation of the chief freelance oncologist of the Russian Ministry of Health, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.D. Kaprin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.A. Porkhanov with the support of the Ministry of Health of Russia, the Ministry of Science of Russia and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

According to Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.D. Kaprin, due to the special structure and structure of brain tissues, tumors of this localization, which include glioblastomas, are extremely difficult to treat:
– A new way of bringing a chemotherapy drug to the tumor by perfusion can be a breakthrough step towards the treatment of these insidious diseases. The essence of the method lies in the fact that during medical manipulation, the brain is supplied with blood separately from the body using an artificial blood circulation device. At this stage, concentrated doses of a chemotherapy drug are delivered to the organ, which are harmful to the tumor, but safe for the organ itself,” the academician explained.

At the same time, the function of the brain, as experts suggest, does not suffer. After the toxicity decreases, the organ reconnects to the general circulatory system. The objective of the experiment was to assess the toxicity of the method and the possibility of preserving cognitive functions of the brain.

The lowest primate, the male baboon hamadryad, was chosen as a model for the experiment. It is this type of monkey that is a laboratory double of a human and is suitable for conducting research on new techniques that cannot be carried out on other animals. The total weight of the model was 30 kilograms, age – 15 years.

The operation lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and was completed successfully, the entire planned volume of surgical intervention was completed. The results of the scientific and medical experiment were commented by the chief physician of the Kostroma Oncological Dispensary V.M. Unguryan: “Now we will monitor the condition of our model and hope that the results of this experiment will provide a basis for new scientific research and help in the treatment, including oncological patients with tumors of such complex localization as the brain.”

According to Russian scientists, at the next stage, it is planned to design a study in order to further study this technique. And as Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.D. Kaprin noted: “The first step has already been completed, and this step is colossal! It is worth noting that the Russian Ministry of Health has fully supported our project and, in general, actively assists in the study and implementation of new breakthrough technologies.”

Director of the Research Institute of Medical Primatology S.V. Orlov said that only in primates during brain perfusion it is possible to determine how much the drug affects the cognitive functions of the brain. Animals can be trained in certain skills and compared before and after the experiment. He also recalled that the Research Institute of Medical Primatology is the oldest center with almost 100 years of history. Now the total population of monkeys that are in the Center is 6,000 individuals.

On the basis of the Research Institute of Medical Primatology, many important experiments have been conducted throughout history, including the creation of vaccines against such serious diseases as measles, polio and the COVID-19 virus.

The scientific experiment was carried out with the participation of a team of specialists from the Federal State Budgetary Institution “NMIC of Radiology” of the Ministry of Health of Russia (Moscow-Obninsk), Kostroma Oncological Dispensary (Kostroma), Research Institute of Regional Clinical Hospital No. 1 named after Professor Ochapovsky (Krasnodar), St. Petersburg Research Institute of Ambulance named after I.I. Janelidze (St. Petersburg). In total, 30 specialists took part in the experiment, as well as scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences – A.D. Kaprin – General Director of the FSBI “NMIC of Radiology” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chief Freelance Oncologist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Moscow), V.A. Porkhanov – Chief Physician of the State budgetary healthcare institution of the Research Institute of Regional Clinical Hospital No. 1 named after Professor Ochapovsky, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Krasnodar), S.V. Orlov – Director of the Research Institute of Medical Primatology Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Adler), V.E. Parfenov – Scientific supervisor, Professor, neurosurgeon of the I.I. Janelidze St. Petersburg Research Institute of Emergency Medicine.

Press Service of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “NMIC of Radiology” of the Ministry of Health of Russia