Famous doctors: Elizarov Gabriel Abramovich. Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov - a great scientist and a great adventurer Message on the topic of the Israelis Gavriil Abramovich

2016 marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of the world-famous doctor Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov.

Ilizarov is one of the most famous doctors worldwide. Thanks to his invention and treatment method, every day doctors in all cities of the planet literally put people “on their feet.” A magic doctor or wizard, as foreigners called him back in the 70s, lived and worked in Kurgan. Today, not only his invention is named after him - the Ilizarov apparatus, the Center for Restorative Orthopedics and Traumatology, but also the medical college in Derbent and even an asteroid. "AiF-Chelyabinsk" collected Interesting Facts from the biography of a Trans-Ural doctor.

Dream of becoming a doctor

Ilizarov decided to become a doctor as a child. Having become famous, he more than once told the incident that predetermined his choice. Once, when he was 9 years old, apparently from hunger, and he grew up in a poor family of mountain Jews and was the eldest sixth child, he ate green pears and got poisoned. The mother called a paramedic, who made a huge impression on the boy: he forced him to drink a huge amount boiled water, gave the injection and by morning the abdominal pain disappeared. Before this incident, Gabriel had never encountered medicine, and, as he himself admitted, the paramedic seemed to him a miracle worker. From that time on, he dreamed of becoming a doctor to help people.

By the way, as a child, Ilizarov had to earn extra money and take on hard work: herding cattle, mowing. Therefore, he went to school only at the age of 12, but this did not stop him from passing all the subjects and entering the 5th grade straight away.

Saved from the war

In 1939, Ilizarov became a student at the Simferopol Medical Institute. Two years later, the Great Patriotic War began. Ilizarov was going to go to the front, but the future doctors were not released and the institute was evacuated to Kazakhstan. After graduating from university in 1944, the doctor was assigned to work in the Kurgan region, at the hospital in the village of Dolgovka.

First patient

A young doctor, in conditions of complete poverty, undertakes any operations and successfully performs them. He delivers babies and treats front-line soldiers who returned to the village from the war with severe fractures that take a long time to heal. Ilizarov is haunted by the thought of helping sick people, he studies books, tries to make his first apparatus for fixing bones in his barn. One day the idea came to him that the device should look like a bicycle wheel with spokes, and he began to tinker: he took the handle of a shovel, imagining that this was a bone, and the metal rods were spokes. This is how the model of the future device appeared. The first patient was a local accordion player who walked on crutches due to tuberculosis of the knee joint. The operation was successful, and after a couple of months the man forgot about crutches. The promising doctor was noticed and transferred to the Kurgan Regional Hospital as a traumatologist-orthopedist, as well as a part-time position as an air ambulance flight surgeon.

Inventor

By 1952, Ilizarov managed to finalize a unique device made of rings and knitting needles for fusing bones and treating fractures, which would be named after him only 17 years later. A patient who had been on crutches for 15 years agreed to try the new product. The operation was again successful. Ilizarov filed an application for the invention, but they were in no hurry to recognize success for a long time. The copyright certificate was issued two years later. All this time, the doctor did not stop performing operations and testing his apparatus, now together with his like-minded people.

In total, Ilizarov has 208 inventions. In 1975 he was awarded the title “Honored Inventor of the RSFSR”, in 1985 - “Honored Inventor of the USSR” for inventions that opened up new directions in the development of medical science.

Famous patients

The country did not want to recognize the new technique, which made it possible not only to treat fractures, but also to build up and straighten bones; Ilizarov was often called a “country doctor,” but the cured patients brought fame to the doctor. In 1968, the famous high jump record holder Valery Brumel turned to Gavriil Abramovich for help, who by that time had been unable to return to sports for several years after an accident - his leg was 3.5 cm shorter than the other. Ilizarov put him on his feet. Brumel returned to the sport. The whole world wrote about his incredible recovery and the wizard Ilizarov.

Famous patients include the composer Dmitry Shostakovich, who completed his 15th symphony in Kurgan during treatment, and the Italian traveler and mountaineer Carlo Mauri, who was troubled by an old injury for more than 20 years. Returning home healthy, Mauri will write the book “The Michelangelo of Orthopedics.”

World recognition

After Valery Brumel’s recovery, Ilizarov began receiving hundreds of letters a day. The queue of people wishing to undergo treatment stretched for several years. Foreigners also went to Kurgan. Since 1982, the Ilizarov method began to be implemented in hospitals abroad. Doctors began to be invited to Spain, France, England, the USA and other parts of the world. Today, the Ilizarov apparatus is used in 60 countries, and its work in Kurgan is continued by students at the Kurgan Scientific Center for Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics, where more than 10 thousand operations are performed annually. The institution turns 45 in December.

Asteroid in his honor

On October 4, 1982, Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina discovered asteroid 3750. It is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in the outer part of the Main Asteroid Belt. The astronomer named him in honor of Gavriil Ilizarov. The diameter of the asteroid is 14 km, it is located at a distance of approximately 460 million km from the Sun. This year the Ilizarov Museum in Kurgan received an official certificate Russian Academy Sciences on naming minor planet No. 3750 the name “Ilizarov”.

Awards

Kurgan traumatologist-orthorpedist has been awarded countless titles and awards, national and international prizes. Among them are “Honored Doctor of the RSFSR”, the USSR Lenin Prize in the field of science and technology, and the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Order of Lenin. Among the foreign awards is the “Order of the Smile”, which was awarded to Ilizarov by Polish children.

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Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov is a luminary of world medicine, the pride of the entire Jewish people. His invention, which forever inscribed the scientist’s name in the tablets of Soviet and world orthopedics and traumatology, was decades ahead of its time. Science fiction, flavored with experimental adventurism, fanaticism and innate persistence, amazed contemporaries with its simplicity and genius. Dogmas preached for years were mercilessly overthrown. Some publications claimed that Ilizarov acts and wins contrary to the laws of nature. But this was not the case at all.

It was precisely by following the laws of nature that, with the help of his wonderful apparatus, he returned to a full life those patients whom many of his colleagues had already abandoned. He returned not only health to his patients, he gave them the opportunity to “live normally.” Most of us, who have arms and legs of normal length, have no idea what happiness it is to “live normally,” “to be like everyone else.” And people healed using the Ilizarov method appreciate it to the fullest.

Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov was born on June 15, 1921. In 1951, he announced his discovery and proposed a method for treating fractures (and then orthopedic diseases) using the device he created, and in 1971 a research institute was opened in Kurgan - now the Russian Scientific Center “Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics” ”, which was headed by Academician G.A. Ilizarov. Now the center bears his name.

The case of recovery caused attention to the Ilizarov method in journalistic and scientific circles Olympic champion and world record holder in high jump Valery Brumel. Both the famous patient and the entire public were amazed at the results of the treatment. Valery himself subsequently, having left big sport, even wrote a story about it.

We can say that together with the crippled Valery Brumel, fame and glory came to the center of Ilizarov. It was from that moment that people started talking about him and began writing about him. In many publications about G.A. They wrote about Ilizarov as a wizard, and about his method of treatment as a miracle, everything looked so implausible from the outside. But in fact medical center day by day, the miracle turned into everyday reality, the fairy tale gave way to life, and the skillful hands of doctors, using an ordinary wrench and knitting needles, turned hopeless, ugly cripples into handsome men.

Much has been written about G. A. Ilizarov, but mostly not about him, but about his method of treating orthopedic diseases. It would not be an exaggeration to say that a whole library can be compiled from scientific, pseudo-scientific and popular science works on this topic.

We will try to tell readers about the personality of the scientist himself, about what kind of person he was - Academician Ilizarov, who was at first praised and extolled, then somewhat forgotten, and today his name resounds with new strength. We will try to talk about Ilizarov - a man, a man with passions and weaknesses that are characteristic of each of us, but, however, did not prevent, and perhaps even contributed to, the fact that he became the author of a discovery of world significance, created and headed the scientific and medical center in which people are treated today patients from many parts of the world.

And Vladimir Ivanovich Shevtsov, doctor, will help us with this medical sciences, professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, who became the head of the center after the death of Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov and heads it to this day.

Vladimir Ivanovich worked with Ilizarov for 25 years and accompanied him on all his numerous international trips. He is the student and successor of the academician.

We managed to contact the Kurgan center named after. Ilizarov and talk with Vladimir Ivanovich Shevtsov.

Vladimir Ivanovich, you worked with Academician Ilizarov side by side for almost a quarter of a century, you are called his student and successor. Therefore, we decided to turn to you with a request to tell you about Gabriel Abramovich as a person. What he loved, how he was in communication...

Of course, I can remember a lot. After graduating from the institute, I worked as an assigned worker at a regional hospital until Gabriel Abramovich invited me to join him. And from 1969 to 1992 I worked under his leadership.

He was a unique, extraordinary person. How was he like in communication?

Well, it depended on the situation. In everyday communication, he could carry on a casual conversation, tell an anecdote, joke, laugh. His great passion was cards. Loved playing a fool and did not recognize any other games. I could play for days and enjoy it. At the same time, he did not just play, but as a person prone to adventurism, he constantly cheated, cheated and rejoiced like a child when people noticed these tricks and exposed him.

And Gabriel Abramovich was a real professional magician. Always and everywhere he carried with him a bunch of devices and accessories for demonstrating magic tricks. Coins, handkerchiefs and all sorts of other things were always with him. And it happened more than once that somewhere abroad during a dinner party he told jokes and demonstrated magic tricks. The fact is that Ilizarov ate very quickly. Still not finished with the first one, but he had already drunk his tea. This is where he began to entertain the crowd. The audience was always delighted, and he himself left the table very pleased.

- Was he an easy person to communicate with?

Not always. He was a very emotional person, quick-tempered, but quick-witted. This is in everyday life. As for work, there was no escape for anyone here. He was very strict and demanding. Especially in cases where his orders were not carried out on time. This is “farewell, Motherland”! He could give out such a thrashing, and even in such twisted expressions, that for some employees it reached a pre-heart attack state.

- Hot Caucasian man!

Yes! This could not be taken away from him! And in expressions, and in temperament, and in many everyday preferences. But what’s interesting: he lived for many years in Siberia, in Kurgan, in fact, from the moment he graduated from university, but before last day throughout his life he remained a Caucasian man. I really loved all Caucasian dishes. I ate greens in bunches. He loved to drink, but of all drinks he preferred chacha. If there is expensive cognac, whiskey, vodka and chacha on the table, then he will drink chacha.

He loved his fellow countrymen very much. In our hospital, when he was alive, many residents of the Caucasian republics were treated.

Gabriel Abramovich had another one interesting feature: He did not know how to instantly give a reasoned answer during discussions or business meetings. He needed time to think. Therefore, sometimes during a meeting I noticed that he began to drag out the conversation, lead him to the side, drag his feet, while at the same time he was thinking about his answer and, in the end, competently and logically laid out everything in front of his interlocutor.

For the same reason, it always took us a lot of time to compile speeches and reports. Gabriel Abramovich thought about each sentence for a long time and ensured that each word had only one meaning. He did not tolerate subtexts and allegories. Everything he said had to be understood unambiguously by the listeners.

Vladimir Ivanovich, you said that Ilizarov was a man prone to adventurism. How did this manifest itself, other than cheating when playing the fool?

ABOUT! This trait of his showed up very clearly in professional issues. Especially at the beginning of the development of the method. For example, we performed an operation to correct a limb deformity, and he could come out of the operating room and say that we corrected the deformity and lengthened the limb by 5 cm, although we did not do this. Or another example: the patient was treated with us for quite a long time (for initial stages it was even a very long time, up to a year), and Ilizarov told the press that this patient spent a month with us, and the results were obvious! And everyone is delighted, everyone is surprised. He shows them pictures before treatment and after treatment - these are the results we achieved with the help of our device in just a month.

- Why did he do this?

How for what? For the speedy development of the center, to attract attention to our method. He could say that the operation was performed, and the patient almost left the operating room healthy, on his own two feet. Agree that not everyone could dare to perform such tricks in the name of even the most good purpose. But Ilizarov could! And this greatly helped the development of the idea, the development of the center, and attracted the attention of the public and specialists. They believed him. One journalist was so impressed by her conversation with him that, having arrived home in Norilsk, she published a sensational article: in the Kurgan center people are cured almost instantly: lame and crippled people come in, and after a few hours full-fledged healthy people come out!

The ability of an academician without a twinge of conscience in a confident voice Telling tall tales was at that time a powerful impetus that led to the opening of our center. But to be honest, there was also a negative aspect to this: the idea was picked up with a bang, and even an order was issued by the USSR Ministry of Health on the widespread implementation of the Ilizarov method. But the method was not yet fully developed, and most local doctors did not know it. But an order is an order. They implemented it and made a bunch of mistakes when treating patients. Was received a large number of negative results, and the people cooled both to the method and to Ilizarov himself.

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And we only needed time during which the method was refined, the devices were brought to perfection, and the timing and operating modes were determined. And now many orthopedists in Russia and the world are trying to master our method.

- And today, those fairy tales that Academician Ilizarov told have already become reality?

Not quite yet, but we are getting closer. Today we cannot yet tell the patient that within a month his leg will lengthen by 5 cm and he will immediately begin to run. But we can promise that within 3 months we will lengthen his leg by 10 cm. Immediately after that, of course, he will not run and will not be able to lift the barbell. The leg must be kept at rest for 2-3 months until the bone is formed, and a gentle regimen must be observed for at least another six months.

But a significant reduction in treatment time, of course, takes place. Already today we have achieved a bone growth rate of 1 mm per day (!).
We can say that thanks to Ilizarov’s adventurism, our center was opened, we got the opportunity to work and conduct research. The academician himself and his method of treatment gained enormous fame. True, as I already said, for some time the hype died down, there was some decline due to the abundance of negative results. But today the name of Ilizarov and our center is again on everyone’s lips.

Vladimir Ivanovich, I, like many of our readers, am very far from issues of orthopedics. Could you in simple language Explain to us what the essence of the Ilizarov method is?

The essence of the Ilizarov method is that he developed a completely new technology. This technology allowed the surgeon to purposefully control the processes during which new bone and the soft tissue component around it: muscles, skin, nerves, blood vessels.

Before Ilizarov, many experiments were carried out on limb lengthening, but they all ended in failure, i.e. amputation. The difference between our method is that it repeats natural natural processes bone growth. How does it happen in nature? A child is born with a height of 50 cm, and after 15-16 years his height is already 170 cm. This is normal and natural. We all grew up this way. And at the same time, nothing hurt us; we didn’t even feel the growth process.

This is exactly what the Ilizarov method is based on: the bone grows, but the skin and muscles do not stretch, because also grow with the bone. And most importantly, the grown limb fully performs all functions and can withstand normal dynamic loads.

- What diseases are treated using this method? I think that people don’t come to your center for an ordinary fracture?

People come to us with injuries and fractures, but only residents of our area. And residents of other cities of the country and many countries of the world turn to us in cases of severe shortening of a limb resulting from an injury, and very often they come with congenital defects: severe anomaly of skeletal development, congenital shortening or deformation of the limbs, clubfoot, clubfoot, etc. Patients come to us starting from one year old. These are those children whose deformities and defects are visible immediately at birth.

What if there is no deformity? It’s just that a person wants to increase his height for cosmetic reasons, for example, a man with a height of 150-155 cm. Do such patients come to you?

Of course, and very often. In such patients, there is usually a disproportion between the length of the trunk and the length of the limbs. And we increase their growth by lengthening their limbs.

- What is the maximum possible increase in height?

There are no restrictions. You can grow a bone to any size you want. But, as I already said, we increase height by lengthening the limbs. In such patients, as a rule, the torso is normal and proportional. Disproportion occurs due to shortened limbs. Therefore, the increase in height occurs due to lengthening of the legs. But here, too, you cannot overdo it, so as not to get a disproportion of another kind.

And the maximum bone lengthening that we generally carried out in our practice was 55 cm, but to the patient’s height this procedure had nothing to do with it. This was a patient with a congenital anomaly - he was completely missing one femur. And we managed to raise it. It took a lot of time, was done in 23 stages, but it was worth it: the person came to us with a congenital deformity, could not walk, and after completing long-term treatment he left as a normal, full-fledged person.

Ilizarov Center - Vladimir Ivanovich, tell our readers what the Ilizarov Center is today?

Our center is a large, respected institution that works in 4 main areas:

1. Research department. 117 researchers and support staff. A total of 355 people. This department is engaged in the development of new treatment methods and improvement of existing techniques. Their work requires experimental animals, so we run an animal clinic with 150 dogs, rats, and rabbits. They are used to model and test new way treatment of diseases. And only after everything has been tested on animals, the development is transferred to a treatment center for adaptation to the human body.

2. Treatment center. It's big enough for us. Its capacity is 800 beds, 1,100 staff and 18 specialized departments.

3. Specialist training center. This is ours The educational center, which has international status. We conduct many seminars and training courses on the technique. Doctors come to us from all over the world, so today patients can already receive many operations and procedures in their own country or city.

4. Our plant for the production of Ilizarov devices and other medical equipment.

This is our farm, which employs a total of 1,500 employees.

- From which countries do people turn to you for help?

Of many. From America, Australia, from everyone European countries. By the way, there are patients from Israel. We have an international department and a whole staff of translators from 14 languages ​​of the world.

- Is there a translator from Hebrew?

That's what isn't there, that's not there. We have never felt the need for it; it is very easy for us to communicate with the Israelis, because... half of Israel speaks Russian, and those who do not speak Russian can easily communicate in English language. At the end of 2005, we held the first Russian-Israeli conference and practically did not resort to the help of translators - most of the Israeli guest doctors spoke to us in purely Russian.

Vladimir Ivanovich, thank you very much for being able to break away from all urgent matters and devote time to us. On behalf of the Kavkazskaya Gazeta and our readers, I wish the Ilizarov Center prosperity and new discoveries.

MARGARITA KOZAKOVA
"Caucasian newspaper" Israel

Ilizarov Gabriel Abramovich gave birth Xia June 15, 1921 V the city of Belovezh, Byelorussian SSR, in a large peasant family. He spent his childhood in a mountain village in the Caucasus. In 1938, he graduated from secondary school as an external student. He continued his further studies at the medical school in Dagestan, and then entered the Crimean Medical Institute.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Together with the students, Gavriil Ilizarov is evacuated to Kazakhstan. He graduated from the Crimean Medical Institute in 1944. Then, as a young specialist, he was sent to the hospital in the village of Dolgovki, Kurgan region. He worked as an air ambulance flight surgeon to provide emergency surgical care to the population.

During his years as a rural doctor, Ilizarov became interested in the problem of bone and soft tissue regeneration in the treatment of limb fractures. In 1951year, he proposed his own method of fusing bones in fractures using an original design - a device for transosseous fixation. He made his first report about this at a meeting of the Kurgan Regional Scientific Society of Surgeons in December 1951. The application for the invention was filed on June 9, 1952, and copyright certificate No. 98471 was issued on June 30, 1954.

New effective ways treatment of injuries and diseases developed by G.A. Ilizarov, allowed to reduce the treatment time and in some cases proved an advantage over the traditional methods of treating orthopedic and traumatological patients that existed before in practical and theoretical medicine. To study the rich practical experience accumulated by Kurgan surgeons, and solving complex medical problems using the Ilizarov method inIn 1966, the Sverdlovsky problem laboratory was created in Kurgan on the basis of the 2nd city hospitalScientific research institute for studying the method of transosseous osteosynthesis. G.A. was appointed head of the laboratory. Ilizarov.

The result of painstaking work was a scientific generalization of clinical experience as a result of experimental studies, which G.A. Ilizarov presented in 1968 in his Ph.D. thesis “Compression osteosynthesis using the author’s apparatus.” The Academic Council of the Perm Medical Institute highly appreciated Ilizarov’s dissertation and awarded him academic degree Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Suggested by G.A. Ilizarov's method could not be limitednarrow research framework. INIn 1969, a new medical institution was created on the basis of the Kurgan Problem Laboratory - a branch of the LNIITO them. R.R. Harmful. And in December 1971, thanks to the enormous scientific achievements of the team headed by G.A. Ilizarov, recognition of the scientific and practical importance of the developments carried out by the institute, the branch, by order of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, was transformed into the Kurgan Research Institute of Experimental and clinical orthopedics and traumatology. Doctor of Medical Sciences G.A. was appointed director of the institute. Ilizarov.KNIIEKOT in 1987 was reorganized into the All-Union Kurgan Scientific Center “Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics” (VKSC “VTO”).

Academician Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov was a bright, extraordinary personality, the permanent director of the All-Union Kurgan Scientific Center “Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics” until July 1992.He became the author of new principles for the treatment of injuries and diseases of the musculoskeletal system. The apparatus and methods of treatment he invented marked the beginning new era in traumatology and orthopedics, gave a powerful impetus to the development of medical science. His merit is that he widely introduced his experience of treatment, created a school of like-minded people to preserve the idea and give it life.

In 1965, Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov was awarded the title “Honored Doctor of the RSFSR” for outstanding services in the field of public health, and in 1976 - the academic title “Professor” in the specialty “traumatology and orthopedics”. In 1978, he was awarded the Lenin Prize for a series of works on the development of a new method of treating patients with injuries and diseases of the musculoskeletal system, and in 1980 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1987 G.A. Ilizarov was elected a corresponding member, and in 1991, an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

For services to national healthcare G.A. Ilizarov was awarded three Orders of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. He was awarded many domestic and foreign awards, medals and prizes: the Order of the Smile, the Order of the Honorary Commander of the Italian Republic; International Prize "Buccheri la Ferta" (small Nobel Prize behind outstanding achievements in medicine); Robert Deniz Prize for the most significant work related to the surgical treatment of fractures, etc. G.A. Ilizarov was an honorary member of SOFKOT, the Association of Traumatologists and Orthopedists of Yugoslavia; societies of traumatologists and orthopedists of Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Italy; was elected an honorary citizen of many cities in foreign countries.

Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov was actively involved in inventive activities, with 208 inventions to his credit. In 1975 he was awarded the title “Honored Inventor of the RSFSR”, and in 1985 - “Honored Inventor of the USSR” for inventions that opened up new directions in the development of medical science. In 1989, he was awarded a diploma for the discovery of “The general biological property of tissues to respond to dosed stretching with growth and regeneration,” called the “Ilizarov Effect.”

Great importance G.A. Ilizarov paid social work. He was elected as a deputy of the district and regional Soviets of Working People's Deputies, as a deputy Supreme Council RSFSR, People's Deputy of the USSR; participated in the XXV, XXVI, XXVII Congresses of the CPSU, XIX Party Conference.

Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov chose one of the most difficult areas of medicine - traumatology and orthopedics, but remained faithful to his profession. He devoted his entire life to healing people: he helped thousands of sick people, and restored hope to already despairing people. His name is known throughout the world. Ilizarov sounds the same in all languages. Dozens of books have been written about him, hundreds of publications in periodicals, both in our country and abroad. They also wrote about Ilizarov famous writers, and journalists, and self-taught poets.

In memory of the outstanding scientist, the Public Foundation named after Academician G.A. was founded in 1993. Ilizarov. In 1994, a monument was unveiled, authored byPeople's Artist of Russia Yu. Chernov. Since 1995, the magazine “Genius of Orthopedics” has been published.

The Museum of the History of the Development of the Center has a huge amount of materials about labor and scientific activity scientist, doctor, person;documentary evidence reflecting the stages of his great creative path; materials on the history of the Center, photographs and scientific works employees - students of G.A. Ilizarov; videos about the Center, stories from popular medical programs and television shows.

In 2013, Moscow director Galina Yatskina made a film about Gabriel Abramovich"Doctor of Last Resort"

Academician Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov passed away more than 20 years ago, but his work and memory of him remain with us forever.

And we want the Ilizarov Center to be like a ship named after its captain, raising its sails and rushing towards success.

Oh, it hurts

Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov was born on June 15, 1921 in the village of Belovezha (Poland), studied at the Simferopol Medical Institute, worked as the head surgical department Kurgan Regional Hospital for War Disabled Persons, Director of the Kurgan Research Institute of Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics (now the Russian Scientific Center for Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics named after Academician G. A. Ilizarov). Died July 24, 1992.

Patient #1: Dmitri Shostakovich, composer

At the age of 64, Dmitry Dmitrievich was tormented by a painful illness - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Due to atrophy of the muscles of the arms and legs, the great composer was almost unable to walk. On February 24, 1970, he came to Kurgan for the first time, where the Research Institute of Experimental and Clinical Orthopedics and Traumatology was located (it was headed, of course, by Ilizarov). Just a couple of months after the start of rehabilitation, Shostakovich began to move much better, he was even seen playing the piano in Ilizarov’s reception room.

In Kurgan, Shostakovich began to work again: it was here that Dmitry Dmitrievich completed his 15th symphony, this became possible thanks to Ilizarov’s methods. In total, Professor Ilizarov presented 208 inventions that were protected by USSR copyright certificates, and 18 of them were patented in 10 countries.

Patient No. 2: Valery Brumel, track and field athlete

Olympic champion, world record holder in high jump - after a motorcycle accident in October 1965, he was predicted to have his foot amputated, and they assured him that Valery would no longer be able to walk normally. Over the course of two years, Brumel underwent a total of 32 operations and still walked on crutches. In 1967, this hopeless patient went to Ilizarov’s clinic for rehabilitation, and the next year (it was hard to believe!) he began training again and even reached a height of 205 centimeters. Ilizarov put Valery on his feet with the help of his invention - a transosseous compression-distraction device. This miracle looks like this: metal rings on which knitting needles are attached, passing through the bone tissue - this way the damaged bones are fixed.

The device is configured to provide the required biological processes, compression and stretching of bone tissue. The device has increased the effectiveness of treatment several times and shortened its duration. In the early 1980s, the Ilizarov apparatus became known throughout the world; the surgeon himself was even nicknamed “Michelangelo in orthopedics” in the West. With the help of the Ilizarov apparatus, fractures, bone deformations and even lengthening of legs are still treated all over the world.

Patient No. 3: Vladimir Chagin, racing driver

The seven-time winner of the Dakar Rally (in the truck class) broke his arm during one of the test runs in Naberezhnye Chelny in March 2011. And not just broken - it was a complex fracture of the wrist joint, surgery under general anesthesia, unclear prospects. Ilizarov himself had been dead for 17 years, but with the help of his inventions miracles were still being created: just two months after the injury, 41-year-old racer Chagin again got behind the wheel of his KAMAZ.

Today is July 24th, we remember...

Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov(June 15, 1921, Kusary, Azerbaijan SSR - July 24, 1992, Kurgan, Russia) - Soviet orthopedic surgeon.

Hero of Socialist Labor (1981), Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1987), Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1991), Doctor of Medical Sciences (1968), Professor, Honored Doctor of the RSFSR (1965), Honored Inventor of the RSFSR (1975), Honored Inventor of the USSR (1985 ), Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1991).

Ilizarov Gavriil Abramovich is an outstanding Soviet surgeon, specialist in the field of traumatology, clinical physiology of the musculoskeletal system and orthopedics, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor.

Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov was born on June 15, 1921 in the city of Belovezh, which at that time came under the jurisdiction of Poland under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. Soon after his birth, the Ilizarov family moved to relatives in the village of Kusary, on the border of Azerbaijan with Dagestan. The future scientist spent his childhood years here. I went to school No. 4 in Kusary only at the age of 11, but having passed the exams primary classes was immediately enrolled in 5th grade. He finished his seven-year school with excellent marks and continued his studies at the workers' faculty in the city of Buinaksk. In 1939, as an excellent student, he was sent to study at the Crimean Medical Institute.

Graduated from the Crimean Medical Institute (1944). Worked his way up from a district hospital doctor (1948) to the director of the All-Union Kurgan scientific center Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics (1987).

Author of works on traumatology and orthopedics, laureate of the Lenin Prize (1978). He developed a universal external fixation device for the treatment of fractures and bone deformities (1951), as well as the theory of osteogenesis, which formed the basis of compression-distraction osteosynthesis. He developed methods for replacing defects in long bones using his apparatus (1967). Thanks to this method, it is possible to restore missing parts of the limbs, including the foot, fingers, and also lengthen the limbs. It was for research in this area in 1968, thanks to the high appreciation of this work by the chairman of the dissertation council of the Perm Medical Institute, Professor E.A. Wagner - was immediately awarded the title of Doctor of Medical Sciences without receiving the title of candidate.

At the same time, in 1968, Ilizarov treated the famous track and field athlete Valery Brumel, who, before his injury in 1965, set world records in high jump many times. The athlete, using an extrafocal osteosynthesis apparatus, underwent treatment that lengthened his crippled leg by 6 centimeters. Valery began training, and after two months he reached a height of 2 meters 5 centimeters. However, in 1969, during the competition, Brumel received a new injury - he tore the knee ligament on the push leg; and again, after treatment with G.A. Ilizarov, was able to return to the sport and reach a height of 2 meters 7 centimeters. Despite the fact that Brumel’s achievements after the injury were not at all record-breaking (in 1963, the world record set by Valery Brumel was 2 meters 28 centimeters), these sports results became a revolution in world traumatology and orthopedics! It is no secret that until the early 70s, many Soviet traumatologists and orthopedists viewed with great skepticism the feasibility and effectiveness of Ilizarov’s research and inventions. The Kurgan professor was treated especially negatively in those days at CITO, the flagship of Soviet medicine. this direction. Due to silence, most novice traumatologists knew nothing about the Ilizarov method. It was thanks to the worldwide popularity of Valery Brumel, the bar, which was not knocked down at a phenomenal height for a former disabled person, that helped the Ilizarov method become famous and enter into widespread medical practice.

Ilizarov is the founder of the center for restorative traumatology and orthopedics, which now bears his name.

Awarded the Order of Lenin and the Red Banner of Labor. He was elected as a deputy of regional councils and the Supreme Council of the USSR and the RSFSR, and was a member of the editorial boards of the journals “Orthopedics, Traumatology and Prosthetics.”

In the early 1990s, he made a trip to the United States to discuss his works, which were little known there.

In 1991 he became an academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

He died of heart failure in 1992 at the age of 71. He was buried in Kurgan in the cemetery of the village of Ryabkovo.

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