The Institute is affiliated to the Russian Academy of Medical Science and has more than 30 years’ experience treating children with every type of cancer. The institute has 120 beds and treats children from all over Russia suffering from complex strains of cancer. At no cost to the patient, the institute provides complex and pioneering treatment. In collaboration with international colleagues, the institute is developing new therapies and treatments.

The Raisa Gorbachev Foundation works with the centre helping to fund essential equipment needed for patient care. An example of this is the Phillips CT Technology Brilliance scanner. The CT scanner gives Russian doctors at this institute unprecedented access to diagnostic equipment that can correctly diagnose the spread of a tumor and evaluate the metastatic disease. Before this most patients treated at the institute were unable to have such an evaluation, as the old equipment delivered too much irradiation to the patient.

Another major piece of equipment provided by the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation was the Phillips HD11 XE High Definition Ultrasound system. This imaging is vital to discover malignant tumours and for investigation during the follow up treatment. Ultrasound is neither painful nor harmful for patients and can be performed many times without general anaesthesia.

The Centre will now be able to see considerably more young patients each day. Every patient can now have this examination on the day of admission, if required. Doctors will have immediate access to the results. “This equipment provided by the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation will be appreciated every hour of every day for a long time into the future.” Dr George Mentkevich, Director of the Centre for Paediatric Oncology