The Presidential Library joined fight against cancer

The Presidential Library will digitize and include in its collections documents of the beginning of the 20th century, referring the reader to the origins of the organization in Russia of the leading institute for the care of oncology patients and the entire system for the prevention of cancer.

The work in this direction was started as a result of the decisions reached during the meeting of the Director of the St. Petersburg Clinical Scientific and Practical Center for Specialized Types of Medical Care (Oncology Center) Vladimir Moiseenko and Deputy Director General of the Presidential Library Valentin Sidorin. It was emphasized that the cooperation of the first national electronic library of the country and the oncology center in the village of Pesochny began five years ago when documents of the siege period of Tamara Alexandrovna Korostyleva, who worked all her life as an oncologist who became a doctor of biological sciences, were discovered and attributed.  

The historical materials given to the Presidential Library have never before been presented in a generalized form in the scientific and informational circulation.

The yellowed pages of the original texts, often written by hand, or even in French, have decayed around the edges, but their content conveys all the tension of the struggle of the foremost physicians of the time for deploying help services to people with cancer in Russia.

The creation of a help desk and research centers for the study of cancer patients began with the extensive correspondence between the organizers of the All-Russian Cancer Society and high-ranking dignitaries in Russia. “My dear sir Apollon Vasilievich”, - an official from the office of the mayor of the Russian Interior Ministry wrote to the Board of the All-Russian Cancer Control Society, “I have the honor to notify Your Excellency that I sent your letter to the Minister, and His Excellency left the letter with him, putting a resolution on the report of the Chief Medical Officer".

In general, the term "cancer" is found in Rus’ with the birth of writing as a literal translation from the Byzantine original. One of the first descriptions of cancer - at Prince Vladimir Galitsky - is given in the Ipatiev Chronicle (1287), available on the portal of the Presidential Library: The complete collection of Russian chronicles, published by the highest order of the Archeographical Commission. V. 2. III. Ipatiev Chronicle. The causes of the disease were considered mechanical irritation of the skin, “excessive wine drinking” and “distant sadness”. There are separate reports of "cutting out" and burning out the tumor. Contraindications for surgical intervention are also described: advanced age, the patient's condition and the spread of the disease. Herbal treatment was widely used, which indicates the views of Russian doctors on cancer as a common disease of the body.

Thus, the manifestations of a cancer disease were known to domestic doctors, and they found distinctive schemes for its treatment. The doctors of the beginning of the last century who advanced in this direction were concerned with the situation of cancer patients: “The All-Russian Cancer Control Society set itself to alleviate the plight of those suffering from a terrible cancer by setting up an institute (clinic) to study cancer treatment methods and to care for cancer patients not only Petersburg, but also the provinces, we read in the Subscription List  № 8565 referred to by the Oncology Center for the Highest Allowed All-Russian Collection of Donations for the Establishment of the Cancer Institute (1912 d). - Public self-help is needed in this good deed! The All-Russian Society for the Control of Cancer Diseases, having received the Highest Resolution, appeals to all institutions and individuals to make without embarrassment in size a feasible contribution to the benefit of those suffering from one of the worst ailments of mankind”.

The package of documents given to the Presidential Library, contains a response from the State Treasury Department to the proposal of the All-Russian Cancer Control Society to create a special clinic with 300 beds: - Note by PL) from the State Treasury by legislative institutions, according to the Secretary of State Kokovtsov, is impossible. The achievement of the goal set by society can be achieved, in the opinion of the Minister of Finance, through an institution at any of the existing scientific medical institutions, such as, for example, at the Clinical Institute of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, at one of the universities, or at the Military Medical Academy, special department for the study of the disease".

Fundraising for a good cause was carried out with the active assistance of philanthropists-industrialists and the “hats in a circle” launched among the population. The paper presented by the Oncology Center to the Presidential Library is curious in this respect: “From the Main Administration of the State Breeding Farm, the Chancellery, May 28, 1913: “To the Chairwoman of the Board of the All-Russian Cancer Control Society Countess E. N. Adlerberg.

As a result of the application of your Excellency, the Head of State Horse Breeding ordered the All-Russian Cancer Control Society to be included in the list of charities, among which the net income from the additional days of 1913 races in St. Petersburg will be distributed"".

After the establishment of Soviet power in the country, the financing of the oncology segment, as well as of all medicine, fell entirely on the shoulders of the state. An extensive care system was created for cancer patients. The Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Federation № 935 of April 30, 1945 “On Measures to Improve Cancer Care to the Population” served as the basis for the development of a network of cancer care facility in the country, united by the idea of ​​improving assistance to oncology patients.

Today, the St. Petersburg Clinical Scientific and Practical Center for Specialized Types of Medical Care (Oncology) is a modern complex that has all the capabilities to provide specialized medical care. The center has more than 6,000 units of first-class equipment on its balance, 136 high technologies have been introduced in the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors, including 20 unique ones. It employs only highly qualified specialists who provide medical care that meets the highest international quality standards. In 2018, within the framework of the official visit of representatives of the St. Petersburg Cancer Center to Rome, a cooperation agreement was signed with the leading oncology center of Italy - the Oncology Institute "Regina Elena".

It seems that the cooperation between the Presidential Library and the oldest medical and diagnostic clinic of the designated profile has the prospect of development, it will help to enrich the electronic collections, to fill the "white spots" in the history of Russian medicine.