Abkhazian experiment on rabbits
Semen Pegov / Ekho Kavkaza
SUKHUM -- In the Abkhazian Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy are being conducted unique experiments in the fight against cancer. With the IEPT as base, Novosibirsk researchers have carried out several experiments to study the effect of hyperthermia on rabbits infected with lymphoma. Semen Pegov discovered the specifics of this method and was present when one of the unique experiments was carried out.
Hyperthermia is a natural increase in body temperature. Each of us is able to tell when we are sick, for example, with the flu. In their experiments, physicians from the Siberian Scientific-Research Institute increased body temperature by artificial means, plunging a man - or in this case, a rabbit - into hot water. It is a well-known fact that at temperatures above 42.5 degrees protein in the blood clots, and the organism dies. The Novosibirsk experts, however, have managed to overcome this barrier.
"Thanks to our know-how, we really managed to achieve this break-through, when at 42 degrees and above the body does not die, but survives, and it all happens fairly painlessly and comfortably for the patient because the procedure is performed under general anaesthetic and under close supervision, with correction of all parameters of the body,” says Ilya Vasilevich, anaesthetist-resuscitator of the Siberian Institute of Hyperthermia.
Actually, the know-how of Siberian physicians consists of the use in the procedure of a special preparation — urotropine. Similar experiments were also carried out on humans, and, in more than three thousand experiments, according to the experts, there was not a single fatality. One of the objectives of the study was the effect of hyperthermia on the living organism — to find a way to combat diseases which in modern medicine are considered to be incurable.
"I have already said that we work with people, we work with oncology, the the HIV-infection, and also with hepatitis viruses; allergic diseases respond very well to treatment by hyperthermia, as do diseases which are sexually transmitted,” says Ilya Vasilevich.
To claim that a panacea for cancer and AIDS have been found by them is one that the Siberian doctors cannot yet make. However, positive developments in this direction, according to them, can now be observed. It is precisely in order to investigate the effect of hyperthermia on various cancer-cells that scientists have come to Abkhazia. Here, using the IEPT as base, they conduct experiments on rabbits infected with lymphoma.
"Because our institute, IEPT, has this model (not every institution in the world can make such a boast), a model of lymphoma injected into rabbits, our colleagues from Novosibirsk have taken an interest in it," says Beslan Kobakhia, Deputy-Director of the Russian Federation’s Scientific Research Institute’s Innovation Technology.
We were able to observe one of the unique experiments. Psychologically, it was hard to believe that a rabbit would live after its body warmed to a temperature above 43 degrees. However, the axiom that a protein clots at such a temperature was disproved before our eyes. The entire procedure lasted about fifteen minutes; together with the doctors, we recorded the indicators on a special thermometer, and the rabbit had a body temperature above 43 degrees for several minutes. We were able to confirm the fact that it had not died a quarter of an hour after the experiment. It will become known from January whether the cooperation between Abkhazia’s IEPT and Novosibirsk medics will bear fruit. But in any case, in Abkhazia, there will be a continuation and further involvement in innovation in medicine. For these goals, the decision has already been taken in the Republic to create an Institute for Innovative Technologiea, the headship of which has been offered Beslan Kobakhia, who has long been engaged in work of this kind in Russia.
"Our holiday-homes, hotels and sanatoria are busy for, well, three months of the year and maybe a little more, but at other times they are empty. If we can promote new and innovative technologies in medical treatment and stand at the head of this process, I think the occupancy of all our spa-facilities will be one hundred percent throughout the whole year," said Beslan Kobakhia.
The work of three institutes (our IEPT, the Novosibirsk Medical Institute, and the Russian Federation’s Scientific Research Institute for Innovative Technologies) is employed in the experiments carried out in Abkhazia. So-called ‘active water’ will be used in the rehabilitation of the rabbits. With regard to hyperthermia, as long as it cannot be utilised in medical services in Russia, patients can only take part in research. If successful, Abkhazia could well use innovations in medicine to bring the republic an even greater volume of tourists.
Source: Ekho Kavkaza (Абхазский эксперимент над кроликами)