Caring for Cancer Patients in War-Torn Ukraine

Treating cancer patients is a difficult job that can be filled with many challenges. Imagine what it's like for oncologists in Ukraine, caring for patients, administering chemotherapy, and performing surgery in the midst of war.

A doctor here in Maryland has a personal tie to that region and is helping fellow physicians provide the best care amid the chaos. During the early days of the war, cancer patients, doctors and hospital staff huddled in the basement of a hospital. They did what they could to pass the time and keep their minds off what was happening above.

"They don't know what's above the ground, they don't know whether their loved ones are alive, if they've fled," said Mercy Medical Center surgical oncologist Vadim Gushchin, M.D. "How are they going to survive? There's a lot going on and no instructions. Life is upside down, quite literally, they're down in the basement."

Dr. Gushchin knows doctors at that hospital. Russian by birth, he has been to Ukraine to help establish a cancer center. When war broke out, he got in touch with his old friends, messaging them at all hours of the day and night. Those messages provided a blueprint for care in the midst of chaos.

"I decided to actually look back at our conversations, text messages, kind of organize them into different themes and see what comes out of it. I was interested in how I would have behaved in this situation," Dr. Gushchin said.

Dr. Gushchin, along with members of The Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy oncology research team and two oncologists in war-torn Ukraine, developed a report now appearing in THE LANCET/Oncology, a research publication, describing the challenges faced in cancer care delivery under war-time conditions. The paper identified several key themes, including the need for physicians to take care of their families in order to function. They also need to decide if they want to take up arms and fight for their country, as some did in Ukraine, or stay and care for their patients. And finally, they need to determine which patients take priority.

Dr. Gushchin believes the information can be applied in many ways.

"We're going to have natural disasters, volcanoes, flooding, you name it. I think these lessons are applicable to many other situations," he said.

According to Dr. Gushchin, conditions have gotten better for doctors and patients at that hospital, but the images of what they went through in the early days of war will never leave him.

"Cancer is a difficult disease to deal with. You saw kids there getting chemotherapy. I could not come up with a reason why you need to bomb someone who is going through a tough time in their lives," he said.

View Dr. Gushchin's interview about his work with Ukrainian oncologists.