Paul Brousse Hospital
Paul Brousse Hospital (Hôpital Paul-Brousse), located in Villejuif in the southern periphery of Paris, played a key role in the development of cancer care and research in France, although it is now known mainly as a national centre for liver transplants. It started in 1913 as a hospice for care of older people and those with incurable diseases and is named after the physician and socialist politician, Paul Brousse (1844–1912).
In 1921, the country's first outpatient clinic for cancer patients was opened at Paul Brousse Hospital. Gustave Roussy, the major cancer centre located nearby, has its roots in oncology work begun at Paul Brousse by professor Gustave Roussy, a specialist in pathological anatomy who was appointed chief physician at the newly established hospice.
It was Roussy's vision of combining cancer treatment and care with research and teaching that was the driver behind the establishment, in 1925, of the Paris Suburban Regional Cancer Centre, which later took his name.
Paul Brousse Hospital maintained a close relationship with the cancer centre even after 1962, when Gustave Roussy became an autonomous cancer centre and Paul Brousse was incorporated as one of the public hospitals of Paris. While functioning as a general hospital, Paul Brousse also acquired a reputation in certain fields, particularly transplant medicine.
It was at Paul Brosse that Georges Mathé carried out much of his pioneering work in medical oncology. In the early 1960s bone marrow transplantation for treating leukaemia patients was developed by Mathé and LéonSchwarzenberg, with sterile rooms introduced in the Fred Siguier unit in 1964. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mathé's use of translational research to improve the outcomes of cancer patients that he treated at Paul Brousse drove progress in multidrug, personalised approaches to cancer care.
Paul Brousse Hospital was among the first hospitals in the world to set up aliver transplant service, led by Henri Bismuth, who also developed the 'split liver' technique, which allows two patients to be transplanted from one liver.
