Presentation

History

Origin of the Bordet Institute (from 1822 to 1934)

19th century

In 1822, the "Conseil Général des Hospices et Secours" (General council of hospices and assistance) in Brussels (the predecessor of the CPAS) undertook the construction of the Grand Hospice in "rue du Canal" for the destitute who suffer from incurable diseases and for needy old people, which included a special wing for people with cancer.
In the last twenty years of the 19th century, scientists took an active interest in this terrible disease and they carried out many experiments to better understand this disease and its etiology.
The development of anesthesia, antisepsis and asepsis in the last quarter of the century allowed major progress to be made in surgery, which at that time was considered to be the best treatment for cancer. Hence, in those days, surgeons were the cancer specialists.
Medical publications on cancer gradually grew in number.
A survey launched in 1895 among the Belgian medical physicians allowed to record and to study 722 cases of epitheliomas.

20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, people also felt more and more concerned about this disease.
At that time there were 2 therapeutic techniques to fight against cancer : surgery and radiotherapy, a brand new science that included radium therapy (or radionuclide therapy, i.e. the use of a certain amount of radium in diseased tissues) and deep radiotherapy (i.e. an X-ray radiation under high-voltage).
The first radiation tests in Brussels took place in August 1903 under Dr Thiriar, a renowned surgeon.
The first radium use was made by Dr Bayet at the St Pierre Hospital. He was head of the department of cutaneous diseases and was trained to this technique in Paris.

In 1906, Dr Vince, head of the department of patients with cancer at the Grand Hospice appealed to several figures like Ernest Solvay, Evance Coppée and Alfred Brugmann to transform his department into a surgical institute with research laboratories to treat tumors.
The project seemed interesting but the University did not approve of it: "...the idea to treat patients suffering from cancer in a special service would be a measure of disruption which would be harmful for patients and disastrous for teaching".
The project was abandoned and only taken up 3 years later. It foresaw the building of a special wing at the Brugmann Hospital, but it failed again, for financial reasons this time.

A Royal decree of September 25, 1908 set up a "cancer study group".

In 1918, there was no state-run institution offering radium therapy in Brussels yet. As a result, only the wealthy could afford to be treated in private establishments.
In other countries, however, there were already such state-run institutions with a joint research laboratory.

On July 27, 1921, the "Conseil Général des Hospices et Secours" in Brussels decided to buy 2 grams of radium for the hospitals in Brussels. The approximate price of 1 gram of radium at that time was more or less 25.000 Eur! (1 million old Belgian Francs).

In August 1921 the Red Cross for its part, bought 1 gram of radium, and in its institute at the Georges Brugmann square, established a center directed by Dr Bayet for the treatment of destitute patients. State-run hospitals sent some of their patients to this institute.
The Red Cross, however, was soon experiencing financial problems and its center was closed down on 1st October 1924. The radium was resold.

In January 1923, the Upper Katanga Mining Union anticipated the 27 July 1921 project of the Conseil Général des Hospices et Secours in Brussels and rented out 8 grams of radium bromide to the university foundation for the benefit of the 4 major Belgian universities.
Each university had to dedicate 1.75 grams to the treatment of patients and the remaining 0.25 grams to research.
The agreement with the university foundation required that the radium be used only in state-run hospitals.
Consequently, negotiations between the University and Hospices for the set up of a tumor service had to be held. Dr Antoine Depage had to negotiate the general organization of the project.

Antoine Depage, was a Senator and the President of the Red Cross. He was the promoter of the Belgian League Against Cancer and had participated to the agreement made with the Rockefeller foundation (in 1921) on the entire reconstruction of the St-Pierre Hospital that had become a university hospital and of the Faculty of Medicine located on the new site (on Waterloo boulevard). He had also contributed to the conception of the new Brugmann Hospital that was unveiled on 23 June 1923. Moreover, he was the head of the surgery department in this hospital.
To sum up, Dr Antoine Depage had excellent relations with the University and with Hospices and everything seemed to indicate that he was the ideal negotiator between these two establishments.

On 3 May 1923, both parties reached an agreement on the creation of a department of radium therapy at the Brugmann Hospital under the leadership of Dr Depage. However, as he became seriously ill, he was not able to direct the project.

On 9 April 1924, during a meeting with, among others, Drs Vandervelde, J. Verhoogen, Jacqué, Jules Bordet et Albert Dustin, the projet took on a larger scope. It was decided that the future tumour service of the Brugmann Hospital would not only include a medical department for treatment with 20 beds belonging to the Surgery department, but also a research department with a physics laboratory, a biology laboratory and a section for "instant clinical research" and samples.

This new center would be directed by the Scientific Council made up of three clinicians: Dr Depage, Dr Vandervelde and Dr Bayet and 4 scientists: the physicist Piccard, the bacteriologist Jules Bordet, the biochemist Slosse and the anatomical pathologist Albert Dustin.
This new center was unveiled on 22 June 1925 in the presence of Queen Elisabeth. Unfortunately, Marie Curie was absent, however she gave her best wishes of success.
Hence, the center was an autonomous university service located in the central wing of the new Brugmann Hospital, constructed at the request of the Conseil des Hospices (the Hospices Council) by Victor Horta, a famous Belgian architect.
It was made up of three services:
1) Surgery with Dr Danis, (Dr Depage had died just before the unveiling of the center),
2) Anatomopathology with Dr Dustin, and
3) Radiotherapy and radium therapy with Dr Murdoch.
The center was under the authority of a Superior Council that was made up of delegates of the ULB and the Commission d'Assistance Publique (Commission of Public Assistance that had taken over from the Hospices Council).
In 1937 the council was made up of: Prof. Dustin, Mr Goossens-Bara, Prof. Bigwood, Prof. Bordet, Prof. Murdoch, Prof. Piccard, Prof. Weil, Dr. Loicq.
The Hospices Council offers premises and the infrastructure for hospitalizations. The University, however, provided radium, special equipment necessary for its use and maintenance and radiotherapy devices.
From 1933 and 1934, radiology laboratories and laboratories of radiological physics were included in the new center.

As this text on the origin of the Bordet Institute is too long for a rapid download, please discover the following sections by clicking on the links on the left of this page or on the links below:
• 1935 and 1936
• Projects
• Inauguration
• Slide show

 

We would like to thank M. Guilardian who is in charge of the archives of the CPAS (Belgian social assistance system) for the pictures and texts he kindly put at our disposal.