Petrovsky scientist. Academician Petrovsky Boris Vasilievich: biography, contribution to medicine

(1908-2004)

Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Honorary Director of the Russian Scientific Center for Surgery of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences

God! Do not allow the thirst for profit and glory to guide me in practical work... Strengthen the strength of my heart so that it can equally respond to the suffering of the poor and the rich, good and evil, help equally friend and enemy. Teach me, Almighty, patience and calmness when the sick person is disobedient or insults, make me moderate in all my judgments and actions, but not in knowledge, for in the latter I want to remain insatiable, and let the thought remain far from me that I know and can do everything..."

These words of the doctor’s daily prayer, created in the 12th century, were repeated and repeated today by a great many ministers of medicine. After all, a doctor, like a priest for believers, is the most trusted person with whom they share their sorrows and sorrows more openly than with relatives and friends. We, doctors, especially surgeons, are convinced of this every day. By agreeing to an operation, even the simplest one, a person entrusts his life to the surgeon.

Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky was born on June 27, 1908 in the family of the zemstvo doctor Vasily Ivanovich Petrovsky, who lived with his family in the village of Blagodarnoye, Stavropol Territory (now Blagodarny). Due to the illness of the only midwife in the village, for the safety of childbirth, the father took his wife to the maternity hospital in Essentuki. Therefore, the city of Essentuki is considered the homeland of Boris Vasilyevich, although he lived in it for only about four weeks.

The name of Vasily Ivanovich Petrovsky was widely known among the population of Stavropol. In 1903, Vasily Ivanovich graduated from the University of Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia, having received a medical diploma with honors, he began working as the chief physician in the 25-bed zemstvo hospital in the village of Blagodarnoye, which he headed for 13 years. A talented doctor, a good organizer, an active public figure , an erudite with encyclopedic knowledge, Vasily Ivanovich did a lot for the formation and development of healthcare in the Stavropol region.

Doctor Petrovsky V.I. led a decisive fight against infectious diseases: typhus, tuberculosis, trachoma. On his initiative, a tuberculosis clinic was opened at the zemstvo hospital and an operating room was equipped. Vasily Ivanovich was engaged in major and minor surgery, performed hundreds of complex urological, gynecological, oncological and other operations.

In 1916 V.I. Petrovsky and his family moved to Kislovodsk, worked as a chief sanitary inspector, then as a senior doctor at the All-Russian Central Executive Committee "Red Stones" holiday home, where patients were N.K. Krupskaya, M.I. Ulyanov, A.I. Rykov, V.R. Menzhinsky, Clara Zetkin, D.Z. Manuilsky and others.

In 1980, a memorial plaque was installed on one of the buildings of the former Blagodarny Zemstvo Hospital, and one of the city streets was named after V.I. Petrovsky. In recent years, a national memorial museum of the father and son Petrovsky has been created and opened in the city of Blagodarny.

In 1916-1924. B.V. Petrovsky studied at the II level school in Kislovodsk. Family traditions formed Boris Vasilyevich’s desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. After graduating from school, he immediately went to work as a disinfectant at the disinfection station of Kislovodsk. Here Boris Vasilyevich completed accounting, stenography, and sanitary courses and began working as a delivery boy in the branch of the Medsantrud trade union, while at the same time intensively preparing to enter a university.

“...In the summer of 1926, my father told me that I needed to go to Moscow and try to enter the medical faculty of the university. There it will be possible to stay for several months with his friend, sanitary doctor A.N. Sokolova. Unfortunately, from the Medsantrud department I was able to get a business trip to take exams only at the Moscow Higher Technical School - a prestigious university, but I was attracted by the medical faculty of the 1st Moscow State University, where I dreamed of entering.

Finally, Mokhovaya, Manezh and the university. Trembling in my legs - the dream is close, but I couldn’t believe that I would enter this famous temple of science. I went into the courtyard and went up the steps to the admissions office. There are a lot of people, young people of all nationalities. Everyone is dressed modestly, but cheerful, noisy and sociable. I immediately met several guys who, as it turned out, also wanted to enter the medical faculty. The competition is big: there are seven candidates for one place. First of all, workers' faculty students are accepted, and then on business trips, without business trips - no one. When I showed my business trip, they recommended that I contact the People’s Commissariat for Education, since university applications for a business trip to the Moscow Higher Technical School are not accepted.

The next day I went to Myasnitskaya to the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. I waited ten hours for an appointment, but there was no wait. On the second day I received a disappointing answer: business trips are not changing, apply for a free competition, but that one is already full. On the third day I went to the university and applied for the competition. Everyone is surprised why I don’t want to apply to Moscow Higher Technical University - after all, this is the best university in the country, everyone wants to go there, but they don’t have business trips. There are few chances to get into Moscow State University. One of the guys advised: “You are the son of a doctor, you have a burning desire to become a doctor, you have a good business trip. Go to an appointment with Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Deputy People’s Commissar of Education, she is very kind.”

Youth is always optimistic. At the People's Commissariat for Education he sought an appointment for two days (N.K. Krupskaya was not there). Finally she accepted me. This reception is etched in my memory - after all, it was a meeting with a bright, extraordinary personality. N.K. Krupskaya received me while sitting. I immediately noticed that her face was kind, tired and sad. She asked in detail, but dryly, and never smiled, because the tragedy of losing Ilyich was still close. I remembered my father, who treated her. She said that I would receive an answer from the office of the rector of the university A.Ya. Vyshinsky in five days.

Every day I find out from the secretary A.Ya. Vyshinsky's fate of his statement. Finally, the secretary, an elderly, pretty woman, apparently one of the “former” ones, said: “Tomorrow Andrei Yanuaryevich will receive you. You must be here in the morning at five minutes to ten exactly on time. I arrived earlier and saw that elderly, well-dressed people were already sitting in the reception area - professors, young students, some in uniform pre-revolutionary caps. I decided that I would have to wait a long time. However, at exactly 9 o’clock I was allowed into the office. At the table is a man of average height, about forty, blond, dry and stern. Standing without extending his hand, Andrei Yanuaryevich said: “Your application has been accepted. You can take exams. Goodbye. I was very embarrassed, turned pale, sweated, I don’t remember what I answered, and left without feeling my legs under me. Is there really hope?

The exams started in a week. All this is a well-known time of suffering. Waiting in front of classrooms, endlessly questioning each other, reading textbooks, assessing the severity of teachers and their characters. Exams at the university in those days were very difficult, they took a long time.

Finally, everything is over - all that remains is to wait for the cherished order. It was the most difficult time. Doubts gave way to pessimism, then hope appeared, and everything repeated again. I will remember these 10 days for the rest of my life. And here are the results - the first lists of people admitted to various faculties are posted. My name is not on the first, second and third lists. It's a shame to the point of tears, I even lost sleep completely. New friends console me and advise me not to go home, but to stay and work in Moscow. They are thinking of enrolling next year if they are not accepted into the university this year.

But then comes the happiest day of my life - on the fourth list is “Petrovsky B.V.” - admitted to the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University. My vision grew dark and my head began to spin. I moved away from the wall, read it again, went to eat a sandwich, again went up to the board and made sure that this was not a dream - I was accepted to the Faculty of Medicine!..”

According to B.V. himself Petrovsky, his years of study at the university strengthened his interest in surgery and showed the need for versatile and in-depth training, first of all as a doctor, and then as a “narrow” specialist. Understanding well that one can become a surgeon only by being a versatile and fundamentally trained doctor, B.V. Petrovsky thoroughly studied clinical disciplines, physiology, spent many hours in the anatomical theater, mastered and improved surgical techniques, did a lot of duty in the clinic and attended rounds of senior colleagues, and performed the first independent operations.

Among the professors and teachers B.V. Petrovsky were the greatest scientists: wonderful surgeons - A.V. Martynov, N.N. Burdenko, P.A. Herzen, anatomist P.A. Karuzin, chemists V.S. Gulevich and A.V. Stepanov, histologist B.I. Lavrentyev, physiologist M.N. Shaternikov, pathologist A.I. Abrikosov, therapists - D.M. Russian, D.D. Pletnev, M.I. Konchalovsky, E.E. Fromgold, urologist R.M. Fronshtein, obstetrician-gynecologist M.S. Malinovsky, pediatrician V.I. Molchanov, psychiatrist P.B. Gannushkin, neuropathologist G.I. Rossolimo, pathophysiologist S.I. Chechulin, hygienist and health care organizer N.A. Semashko.

Participation in operations together with A.V. was a wonderful school for the future surgeon. Martynov, and later - with P.A. Herzen, night shifts at the Yauza hospital, work in a scientific student circle. Boris Vasilievich often visited the laboratories of S.I. Chechulin and S.S. Bryukhonenko, in which for the first time in the world an artificial blood circulation apparatus was created - an “autojector”.

During his studies, B.V. Petrovsky was active in public work, was the chairman of the trade union committee of the institute, was fond of playing chess, hiking, and always took an active part in Komsomol events. One of the brightest impressions was meeting the great physiologist I.P. Pavlov, meeting at the chessboard with future multiple world champion Mikhail Botvinnik.

Transfer to senior courses - to Pirogovka, where the clinics and laboratories of the 1st Moscow State University were located, the legendary Devichye Pole, where the Russian medical intelligentsia studied, was a new stage in life for us, accompanied by a restructuring of thinking. From inanimate objects and inanimate matter we moved on to people, the sick, we had to learn to understand their suffering - in a word, to prepare ourselves for the profession of a doctor.

However, the transition was not smooth for everyone. Just as in the first years, where work in the “anatomy department” unsettled some young people, so at the patient’s bedside many were at first lost and exaggerated the difficulties of studying clinical disciplines. Time required not only cramming, but also developing the ability to speak with patients, find out the symptoms of the disease, and carefully identify strong points in the anamnesis that preceded the disease. All this put some students off from the clinic, and they left, preferring to work in the laboratory.

“These wonderful times passed unnoticed - 1928, 1929, 1930. My passion for surgery did not disappear, but on the contrary, it intensified. He did not miss a single meeting of the surgical circle, which was led by assistants Boris Vladimirovich Milonov and Joseph Moiseevich Chaikov. We participated in duty at the P.A. clinic. Herzen and even assisted usually at night during operations. The window of our room in the hostel on Malaya Pirogovskaya was located opposite the dome of the operating clinic of P.A. Herzen. Waking up at night and seeing the illuminated dome, he quickly got dressed and ran to the clinic, where the hands of students who were not yet experienced, but eager to join the operating team, were so needed. I remember one of P.A.’s night operations. Herzen. A patient was brought in with a huge spleen (splenomegaly). They had already tried to operate on her in another hospital, but they could not remove the organ due to the danger of bleeding that could lead to death. This heroic intervention was undertaken by Pyotr Alexandrovich. It was impossible to “approach” the blood vessels (the enormous size of the organ), but with the fingers of his left hand he isolated the pedicle of the spleen and blindly crossed the vessels. A stream of blood gushed out. Herzen quickly closed it with his fingers, and then calmly, using his fingers to navigate the depths of the wound, stitched and bandaged an artery and a vein, each finger-thick.

Pyotr Alexandrovich’s eyes shone when, moving away from the operating table, he told us: “Here, it’s not the surgeon who is afraid of blood, but the blood should be afraid of the surgeon.”

About P.A. Herzen (Department of General Surgery) - my teacher and his school - has written a lot, in particular in my articles. Widely educated, brought up in a European way, he, like his famous grandfather, was a democrat in the broad sense of the word. A brilliant surgeon and lecturer, P.A. Herzen gained fame, the people loved him, and we, the students, loved him too. I consider myself one of his followers and have always carried out and continue to carry out my main work in the field of oncology, esophageal surgery, vascular surgery and such general biological problems as shock, infection, resuscitation in surgery, coordinating them with the principles of Herzen’s school. N.N.’s schools gave a lot for our education. Burdenko (faculty of surgery) and A.V. Martynova (hospital surgery). I want to emphasize that without teachers like P.A. Herzen, N.N. Burdenko and A.V. Martynov, who had different ideas about surgery, different scientific programs, different attitudes towards the ethics of a doctor, we would not have formed surgeons - graduates of Moscow University.

Not all professors were friends with each other. So, sometimes at a lecture by P.A. We heard Herzen’s ironic and humorous remarks and N.N.’s address. Burdenko, and he, in turn, made sharp words about Herzen. However, both outstanding surgeons, as we now think, did not have “a stone in their bosom,” and their discussions did not have a harsh, offensive nature. At lectures, stories about their lives and trips abroad were always listened to with special attention.

I remember once, having arrived from Germany and Poland, Alexey Ivanovich Abrikosov figuratively described the congress of doctors in Warsaw, spoke about the sympathy of Polish and other scientists for Soviet medicine, about the craving of professors who once worked and studied in Russia for their homeland.

After the lecture, Nikolai Nikolaevich Burdenko often left students interested in surgery and talked about a number of interesting meetings, about the tragic episode in the clinic of F. Sauerbruch. While using a new method of anesthesia with a high-pressure apparatus from Roth Draeger, the anesthesiologist made a mistake, the apparatus exploded, the patient died on the table, and several doctors, including N.N. Burdenko, after falling on the stone floor and suffering a concussion, was taken out on a stretcher from the operating room.

By the way, with N.N. Burdenko has one interesting episode connected with him. One day, our subject commission on surgery (five people) came to Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko and calmly but directly expressed his opinion about the harshness and even rudeness he allowed during the operation. Smiling with his special sly “Nilych” smile, he thanked us and said: “Of course, I will take your comments into account, but believe me and forgive me - after all, I was brought up in a bursa, and you know what a bursa is, at least from the works of Pomyalovsky.” We left embarrassed, but at the same time pleased with our courage.

People's Commissar of Health, Professor Nikolai Aleksandrovich Semashko gave us a lot of important and necessary things at his lectures. Students loved him very much for his accessibility, kindness, and practical information that he always brought to his lectures. Fighting epidemics, prevention - he illustrated these sections with examples from his life. We also asked him to talk about his work in exile, about his meetings with V.I. Lenin. Nikolai Alexandrovich recalled with great warmth Lenin, who saved him in Switzerland, in exile, when Semashko was arrested. Only V.I. Lenin, having found a reputable lawyer, achieved the deportation of Semashko not to Russia (where he was threatened with hard labor), but to Bulgaria. Major statesman, N.A. Semashko, even after leaving the post of People's Commissar, heading the Department of Social Hygiene, always remained himself, treating us young people with love and attention. In 1929, he was relieved of his post as People's Commissar due to his overestimation of medical examinations and underestimation of preferential medical care for workers of industrial enterprises."

After graduating from B.V. Petrovsky has been working as a surgeon at the Podolsk regional hospital for about a year and a half.

“Having arrived in Podolsk, I began to think about future plans. Of course, you can stay and work on industrial sanitation, occupational diseases, and healthcare organization. But what then to do with surgery, which I loved from my youth and could not imagine my life without it. A passionate desire to master surgery arose from my student mentor - the ideal of students who chose surgery as their future profession - Pyotr Aleksandrovich Herzen.

He quickly got ready and came to Moscow to visit his sister Nadya, who together with her husband (old Bolshevik M.N. Abolin) lived in the dormitory of the Higher Party School on Nikitsky Boulevard. The next day I went to the Oncological Institute (P.A. Herzen Clinic) and had the courage to turn to my teacher. It turns out that he remembered me from the student circle, greeted me warmly, joked, and talked about military service. I was sent to the senior assistant Alexander Ivanovich Savitsky. He received me along with doctors Buivolov, Anfilogov, Shmelev, who also returned from military service. We were all wearing military tunics and trousers, boots, and soldier's overcoats. They wore budenovkas.

Alexander Ivanovich is a tall, stately man with a small brown, carefully trimmed mustache and a hard look in his brown eyes. After carefully examining everyone and getting acquainted with our documents, he said: “Yes, comrades yellow-throated chicks, you came on time, since we received several positions for junior research assistants for the clinic. We can take you on a probationary period, and then we’ll see. But know that "You have come to a famous clinic, and idlers are not tolerated here. I myself went through the school of difficult youth and recognize only strict discipline. I strongly recommend to you: first, work a lot, from morning to evening, you are workhorses, and you must do everything in the clinic unquestioningly. "Second, I don't recommend that you marry for two years. Third, you should go to the library every day. Fourth, be sure to study German, since Russian and German surgeons have achieved the greatest success in the world. And fifth, be sure to take up a topic for scientific work." We sat, instinctively clinging to each other. Having said goodbye with a nod of his head, Alexander Ivanovich let us go, and we, leaving the office, exchanged opinions. Thus began a new stage of my life.”

In 1932, scientific activity began - as a researcher at the Moscow Oncology Institute (the first stage under the leadership of P.A. Herzen). The abilities of a researcher and the talent of a surgeon found fertile ground - over several years of hard work, Boris Vasilyevich completed research on important issues in oncology (treatment of breast cancer), transfusiology (method of long-term massive transfusions and drip blood transfusions), and shock.

The first scientific article by B.V. Petrovsky “On the assessment of long-term results of surgical treatment of breast cancer” was published in 1937 in the journal “Surgery”.

Subsequent articles by the young scientist showed that he knows how to see the main thing and determine the angle of study of an issue. A fairly voluminous list of publications, taking into account the complexity of the topic and the timing of preparation, is undoubtedly associated with other qualities of the researcher: the ability to organize work, choose the right ways to achieve the goal. No wonder B.V. Petrovsky often repeats that it is important not only to choose a problem, but also to correctly determine the search methodology, because the “trial and error” method is too expensive.

In the cycle of his first scientific works, the principles of his creative activity can also be traced - special attention to current problems of surgery, in close connection with physiology and other fundamental sciences, the search for something new, a heightened understanding of the current challenges of the time.

In the 20-30s, blood transfusion as a problem in surgery was in its youth and required the solution of many scientific, practical and organizational issues. Of course, the problem was also of interest to B.V. Petrovsky. In 1937, Boris Vasilyevich defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic: “Drip transfusion of blood and blood-substituting fluids in oncological practice.” It was published in a revised form as a monograph in 1948. Interest in blood transfusion B.V. Petrovsky continued in subsequent years, in particular, to methods of introducing blood into the body, the effect of transfusions on body functions.

At the Institute of Oncology, I met a researcher at the experimental laboratory, a student of Academician A.A. Bogomolets, very beautiful, sweet and kind Ekaterina Mikhailovna Timofeeva. On Sundays, my friends and I went out of town, picked mushrooms, enjoyed the nature of the Moscow region, and visited palaces and ancient monuments. They also went to theaters and cinema, talked a lot about themselves, dreamed about the future and fell deeply in love with each other. We got married in 1933, but there was essentially no wedding. At five o'clock in the evening we came to the registry office, which was already closed, signed the book and received a certificate of marriage registration.

It was warm and cozy in Ekaterina Mikhailovna’s room on Godeinsky Lane. The communal four-room apartment was located on the third floor. The neighbors were good. We had a lot of fun and Have a great time together on your special day. We bought cakes, snacks, and liqueurs in advance. This is how our family life began.

I moved from my room, which I rented on Frunze Street, to Arbat. We ended up with about 11.5 meters of space. It was a little dark (the window looked out onto a narrow courtyard), but it was warm, quiet, and cozy. Ekaterina Mikhailovna turned out to be a wonderful housewife, a neat, energetic and at the same time calm wife and mother.

Life at that time was difficult, we somehow formed our family budget. We met late, because in addition to our main job we had to take on a part-time job: Katya - at the Institute of Blood Transfusion, me - at the oncology center of the 1st Unified Dispensary on Usachevka. We were happy, although we met at home late in the evening, and sometimes at night, and left for work at 7 o’clock in the morning. Of course, we relaxed together on Sunday. Relatives, friends and acquaintances came to visit us. They drank tea, talked a lot, sang and then walked along the Moscow boulevards, along the Arbat and its quiet alleys.

For two years in a row we went on vacation to Kislovodsk, where my family greeted us very well. In the summer of 1934, we crossed the Klukhorsky pass. First, we took a bus from Essentuki along the Kuban River gorge to Teberda, and after crossing Klukhor and going down the Kodor River and the gorge of the same name down to Tsebelda, we again got to Sochi by bus. In this seaside town we spent several days with the parents of Nina's sister's husband. After this unforgettable trip, we arrived in Moscow tired, tanned and happy.

The birth of Marina (November 1936) was an important event in the life of our family and, of course, made Katya’s work difficult. She completed her graduate studies and worked as an assistant at the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. Hard as it was, we had to hire a nanny and move her into our cramped room. This is how we lived, and this is how most Muscovites lived in those years.

Marina grew up as a lively, cheerful child and made her parents happy. Katya and her daughter went to Vyazma in the summer, where her parents lived, and then we started renting a dacha in a village along the Northern Road. Grandmothers came to visit us there - Maria Semyonovna and Lydia Petrovna - my mother. After a serious illness in 1937, my mother died. The family's grief was difficult to describe - after all, she was 49 years old.

But I had to live and work. In 1937, I defended my PhD thesis on drip transfusion of blood and solutions. The opponents in the defense were S.S. Yudin and M.Ya. Skundina. The defense was successful, I received a Candidate of Sciences diploma, and then a second diploma - a Senior Researcher. I began writing articles on surgery and oncology. Ekaterina Mikhailovna also successfully worked on her dissertation and published scientific articles on pathophysiology. One of her interesting articles was devoted to blood research, the donors were herself and her comrades during a mountaineering trip to the top of Kazbek (she was there several years before her marriage).

In 1938 B.V. Petrovsky is awarded the title of senior researcher (associate professor). However, peacetime was ending. In 1939-1940, Boris Vasilyevich participated as a leading surgeon and deputy head of a field hospital in the army in military events on the Karelian Isthmus.

The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) found B.V. Petrovsky at the Department of General Surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after. N.I. Pirogov as an associate professor. From the operating table of the clinic, he went into the active army.

From the first days of the war, B.V. Petrovsky is a leading surgeon in front-line and army hospitals. Thousands of soldiers and officers owe their lives to his skill as a surgeon. Military labor B.V. Petrovsky was awarded military awards - the Order of the Red Star, two Orders of the Patriotic War, II degree, and medals.

“Once a 38-year-old soldier was brought in. A fragment of a projectile, as if in the shape of a piece of a saw, stuck in the right supraclavicular space, and a pulsating swelling appeared there. The pulse was not detected in the right radial artery, but systolic-diastolic murmur was heard above and below the clavicle; paresis of the limb and very severe pain in the arm. The wounded man was extremely agitated, screaming in pain, which subsided only 1-2 hours after a large dose of morphine.

I knew that surgery on the subclavian artery was extremely dangerous. I remembered P.A. Herzen, who operated on five aneurysms of the subclavian artery and lost four wounded - an experience that did not inspire optimism. I looked through an anatomy textbook and became familiar with the approaches to this vessel, which are clearly impractical in military conditions (flaps, long periods of time, etc.). The idea arose about the need to quickly go through the wound and at the same time provide a wide range of access.

The hour for the operation has arrived. Using a T-shaped incision through the wound, he exposed and removed the inner end of the right clavicle, cut its posterior periosteum, bandaged and cut the subclavian muscle. The subclavian vein immediately became clearly visible, and deeper - the artery and brachial nerve plexus. An aneurysm the size of a chicken egg ruptured, the bleeding was stopped with the left index finger, and the central and peripheral ends of the vessel were pierced from the inside. I felt a fragment with a diameter of 2 cm between the nerve trunks, its sawtooth edge resting on the nerves. Removed the fragment. The postoperative course was good. This incident helped in further work. There was courage and confidence that a direction in vascular surgery had been found - approaches, methods of stopping bleeding during surgery, eliminating an aneurysm through a bag...

An evacuation and triage hospital was formed in Tula. Evacuation has also been organized, even at night. They began to send the seriously wounded to the rear, to unload the hospital. Now you can fulfill your dream - to go to the operating room. I washed my hands thoroughly, put on a robe and gloves. On the table is a soldier 30-35 years old. The bullet passed near the navel and exited from the back of the lumbar region. All signs of an abdominal injury (twelve hours ago): “Hippocrates face”, pain, muscle tension, blood in the lateral channels of the abdomen, rapid pulse. Anesthesia was given and a blood transfusion was started. Laparatomy - there is a lot of blood in the abdomen and intestinal contents, which are carefully removed. Resection of 20 cm of the small intestine, suturing of four more holes in the intestine, lavage and closure of the abdominal wall were performed. And on the second table another wounded man with a similar injury is waiting. After the second operation, I take off my gloves, and at this time the sister brings in a young pale soldier, who presses his hand on the right side of the neck. The soldier said that after the shell exploded, he felt a blow to his neck, then a scarlet stream of blood began to flow from the small wound - “a fountain with a whistle.” Since the soldier went to the front from his third year of medical school, he diagnosed himself with a wound to the carotid artery. And he was right. They quickly placed him on the operating table. The wounded man's right index finger went deep into the wound hole in the center of the right half of the neck, closing the wound like a plug. I quickly washed my hands, put on gloves and asked the doctor N. Petrova to also put on gloves. I treated the soldier's hand, his finger, and his neck with iodine. Then he applied local anesthesia with novocaine around the wound. At the command, the soldier immediately removed his finger, and a powerful stream of scarlet blood whistled out of the wound, flooding us all and even the operating lamp. The assistant quickly but carefully inserted his gloved finger into the wound and the bleeding stopped. A blood transfusion was performed, neck tissue was dissected above and below the wound, and blood vessels were exposed. A hole with a diameter of 1 cm was visible in the common carotid artery; a shell fragment lay nearby. The artery is temporarily switched off, interrupted vascular sutures are applied to the walls of the hole, and the fragment is removed. There is complete patency of the vessel and no bleeding. Soon after the operation and transfusion of 1.5 liters of blood, the soldier was evacuated to the rear in good condition. All nurses were trained in this technique; they saved the lives of many wounded people by wearing a rubber glove and closing the hole in the wounded vessel with their finger. They were awarded medals for this, as written in the 19th volume of “The Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.” "(The volume was published under my editorship and is dedicated to vascular injuries.)

The front line stabilized, shelling and bombing became a rare occurrence. I wanted to go “home” - to Tula. After saying goodbye to new friends, the U-2 air ambulance took off from the completely destroyed town of “Pogoreloe Gorodishche”, which left memories of the hardest days of struggle for the lives of many hundreds of people.

On the second stretcher we took out the wounded colonel, who was weak and silent the whole time. We are flying calmly, the weather is rainy, but there is no fog. Suddenly, just outside Volokolamsk, the pilot sharply took the plane down. A sharp crack of a machine gun was heard, and tracer lines of machine gun bursts began to be visible. Several times we saw the Messer overtaking us, but the unarmed "maize plant", which had excellent gliding properties, always went down to the clearings, circled along the edge of the forest and did not give in to the enemy.

I don’t remember how we got to the Volokolamsk airfield. We taxied to the buildings and got out of the plane, the pilot and I, both pale and sweating. The pilot said: “Happy is your God, doctor. We were on the verge of death,” and pointed to the wing that was pierced by a bullet. They carried out the wounded man, and we took to the air again.

We landed safely at the Tushino airfield. They hugged and kissed the pilot and each went on their way to their own war. I was to receive my first Order of the Red Star in the Kremlin. Therefore, I immediately went to Red Square, received a pass and an invitation to receive the order.

After a thorough check of documents at the side entrance of the Spassky Gate, the guard let me through and told me how to get to the Sverdlovsk Hall. I walked excitedly between the Kremlin wall and the grayish-yellow buildings, found the entrance, again presented my documents, undressed, combed my hair and climbed up the beautiful stairs to the second floor. The corridor was already crowded with officers, mostly defenders of Crimea, and among them was a familiar Moscow surgeon, who, like me, had been awarded the Order of the Red Star. Everyone was invited to the Sverdlovsk Hall. It was the first time for most of us in the Kremlin, and especially in this historical hall. We turn our heads, look at the stucco decorations, the beautiful shapes of the darkened windows and the sculpture of V.I. Lenin. And then the secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR A.F. came out of the side door. Gorkin. The awards ceremony has begun. A.F. Gorkin read out the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and M.I. Kalinin presented a red box with an order and an order book, congratulated and shook hands. Each of us answered: “I serve the Soviet Union,” and, turning in a military circle, returned to our place.

During the difficult years of the war, B.V. Petrovsky not only acquires vast practical experience, but also subjects it to analytical analysis, i.e. actively engaged in scientific activities: military field surgery, surgery of wounds of the heart, lungs, pericardium, blood vessels, transfusiology, etc. The works of B.V. Petrovsky “Pericarditis after gunshot injuries of the chest” (1943, 1945) are published. “Gunshot wounds of blood vessels” (1944), “Subphrenic abscesses after gunshot wounds” (1945) and others, reflecting the surgeon’s extensive experience in the treatment of gunshot wounds of blood vessels and their consequences.

During the Great Patriotic War, the innovative surgeon tested his ideas about blood transfusion methods, successfully using the injection of blood into the carotid artery and then directly into the thoracic aorta. The experience was summarized in 1943. in two articles: “Blood transfusion into the common carotid artery” and “Simple suction device in surgical practice” (magazine “Surgery” No. 4), and then in reports at the Congress of Hungarian Doctors (1951), the International Congress in Rome (1954 g.), etc. This group of works was continued by the monograph by B.V. Petrovsky “Blood transfusion in surgery” (1954), “Transfusion therapy in surgery” (1971), etc. Entire scientific teams are working on the problems of blood transfusion. This area of ​​medicine, born in the depths of surgery, in a certain sense owes to the works of B.V. Petrovsky.

Based on military experience, Boris Vasilyevich also wrote works on injuries to the pelvic bones, subdiaphragmatic space, published his original method of hip disarticulation surgery, etc.

This large cycle of research, intensively continued in the post-war years, was formalized in 1947 in the doctoral dissertation “Surgical treatment of gunshot wounds of blood vessels in a front-line area.” In 1949, it was published in the form of a monograph “Surgical treatment of vascular wounds” (M., Publishing House of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, 1949).

The year 1944 was characterized by the offensive of the Red Army on all fronts. The hospital in Ostashkov was again preparing for redeployment, which was to take place in a month to the area of ​​the Second Baltic Front - the town of Rezekne. In the meantime, we continued to operate, treat the wounded, and train the medical staff, especially the new recruits.

One evening I was finishing an operation on a stomach wound. All that remained was to put stitches on the abdominal wall. A nurse quickly entered the operating room and said that I was being called to see the head of the hospital. In N.G.’s office Vyazemsky there were many military men and among them was Mikhail Nikiforovich Akhutin. We hugged and kissed, exchanged our impressions about work, and started dinner. Mikhail Nikiforovich was in a sad mood, apparently unwell. However, as always, he joked, told a number of funny front-line stories, and then asked to go into the next room for a “separate conversation.”

Having settled down on the sofa, he said: “Dear Boris Vasilyevich, fate connected us during the war, we have the same thoughts about medicine, about surgery, the war is coming to an end, and we need to think about the future. As you know, my life is turbulent, I I don’t think that anyone who connects his life with my destiny will choose the easy road. But even under these circumstances, I want to offer you an excellent job for a surgeon. I am appointed to the position of deputy, and in essence, chief surgeon of the Red Army (N.N. Burdenko is ill) and at the same time they are given the department of hospital surgery at the Military Medical Academy in Leningrad, a department that has always remained the dream of my life. I propose to go to Leningrad and work there as my deputy at the department. Do you need to think and when can you give an answer? "

I asked for a week to travel to Moscow and advice with Ekaterina Mikhailovna, who had already returned from Chelyabinsk.

I quickly got ready and reached Moscow without incident. The meeting with my wife and daughter was very heated, they remembered the years of peace and talked about the future. Katya again worked as an assistant at the 2nd Medical Institute at the Department of Pathophysiology under Professor G.P. Sakharov. As it turned out, Katya indirectly learned about G.P.’s conversation. Sakharov with one military doctor, who informed him about my supposed death: he saw me covered in blood in a ditch near the railway track. In fact, during the bombing of our train in 1943, I was covered with earth.

Life in Moscow at that time was difficult, but gradually fell into place. We discussed our future and my situation. Pyotr Aleksandrovich Herzen was sick all the time, and I haven’t worked for him since 1940. Proposal by M.N. Akhutin was tempting - a professorial position, a real opportunity to document the results of military experience with chest wounds, design of the book “Gunshot Wounds of Large Blood Vessels,” the materials of which were fully prepared.

In general, it was time to draw conclusions from the colossal experience of surgical treatment of wounds, which can be tested in an institution such as the Military Medical Academy named after. CM. Kirov, which worked in Leningrad as a large military hospital. And at the end of the war, the Academy’s clinics were overflowing with wounded. So, it was decided to move to work at the Military Medical Academy. CM. Kirov".

“I had to work a lot on the book “Gunshot Wounds of Large Blood Vessels,” which I did with great interest in Leningrad until October 1945. And in October M.N. Akhutin was appointed director of the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow. M.N. Akhutin invited me to the position of deputy director for scientific affairs. Of course, I wanted to return to the capital. My home, family, teachers, friends and comrades were there. By order of M.N. Akhutin soon demobilized me. Farewell to new friends was very warm. Leningrad remained in my heart as a wonderful hero city, a city of science, a city of medicine. All these years I have maintained the closest ties with Leningrad. Every time I come to this wonderful city, I remember its military fate and a part of my wartime life.

As you know, after the war, by decision of the government, a multi-volume (34 volumes) work “The Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” was published. E.I. was appointed its executive editor. Smirnov is the head of the Military Medical Directorate of the Soviet Army, and the editors of the volumes are major clinicians and epidemiologists of the country.

E.I. Smirnov invited me to be the executive editor of the 19th volume devoted to vascular injuries. I accepted the offer and selected a team of authors. The main chapters were entrusted to me. Some chapters include my personal photographs of the wounded. For four years I had to work with a million case histories brought to the Leningrad Military Medical Museum.

A huge number of tables and punched cards were compiled into combined graphs, sigma M and sigma D were calculated, and representative indicators were determined. They were to be included in all chapters of the volume. Careful editing of the entire volume was required, coordination of the drawings with the chairman of the commission for illustrations, Yu.Yu. Dzhanelidze. I had to travel to Leningrad many times to work in the museum. It took a lot of time, but the volume turned out well and was awarded a first degree diploma.”

The rich experience of military field surgery in the treatment of vascular injuries is also summarized in the 19th volume of the unique publication, which has no analogues in the world, “The Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.” The author of the sections and editor of the 19th volume was B.V. Petrovsky. These works of the scientist influenced the development of the doctrine of gunshot wounds of blood vessels; Boris Vasilyevich developed in detail the operations of intra-sac elimination of aneurysms and pulsating hematomas, transvenous suture and lateral suture of arteries; performed operations unique for his time for gunshot arteriovenous aneurysms, in particular, for aneurysms of the aortic arch, cava, and innominate vein. He developed approaches for the most complex and inaccessible gunshot wounds and aneurysms of the innominate, carotid and subclavian arteries.

Personal experience of more than 800 operations for gunshot wounds of blood vessels was put forward by B.V. Petrovsky among the largest vascular surgeons and created the basis for the development in subsequent decades of the most important issues in restorative and reconstructive vascular surgery.

Invariably, the focus of Boris Vasilyevich’s attention in the post-war decades continues to be issues of military surgery, as evidenced by his numerous reports and publications in recent years and the book “Lectures on Military Field and Military City Surgery”, in which the author puts forward, in particular, the concepts of special tactics in providing medical care in modern military operations.

Having finished the Great Patriotic War as an established independent surgeon and researcher, B.V. Petrovsky began work in 1945 as Deputy Director for Science at the Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, and began to develop problems of thoracic surgery and, especially, the esophagus - new and developing sections for that time.

Having received a new wide field of activity, an energetic scientist at the Institute of Surgery developed and for the first time in the country (in 1946) performed successful operations for cancer of different parts of the esophagus with simultaneous intrathoracic plastic surgery. A milestone in the development of the problem were the articles of B.V. Petrovsky, published in 1947: “Advances in surgical treatment of cancer of the esophagus and cardia” and “Intrapleural resection of the esophagus, cardia and total gastrectomy with simultaneous esophagogastro- and esophagojejunostomy for cancer.”

Boris Vasilyevich summarized his research and experience in surgery for esophageal cancer in 1950 in the monograph “Surgical Treatment of Cancer of the Esophagus and Cardia,” which was awarded the N.N. Prize in 1953. Burdenko of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

From the Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, he moved to the Department of General Surgery of the II Moscow Medical Institute, headed by prof. V.P. Voznesensky, where in 1948 he received the title of professor.

In 1949 - a new turn in the life of a scientist - B.V. Petrovsky, by decision of the Government, is sent to the Hungarian People's Republic. For two years (until 1951) he headed the 3rd surgical clinic of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Budapest.

“In August 1949, the whole family had a good rest on the Black Sea. Having returned to Moscow, one day we decided to go to the cinema to see the film “Spring on Ice”. We were watching the picture with pleasure, suddenly the song came on in the hall and the administrator announced: Professor Petrovsky was asked to come to the directorate.

It turned out that they were calling from the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and inviting me to the International Department. There they told me that the Hungarian government was asking to send a surgeon to Hungary. It was assumed that he should head the surgical clinic and department of the University of Budapest. The basis for the request was the lack of well-organized surgical care and trained surgeons in the country. The wish was expressed that a school of surgical specialists should be established in Hungary.

The proposal was completely unexpected and, I must admit, very upset our family. I didn’t want to part with Moscow and work. In our clinic at this time, complex operations on the liver, thoracic organs, esophagus and lungs were successfully performed, and new directions were outlined for the organization of the Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

Of course, it was difficult to refuse such an order. I understood the full responsibility of the matter, its certain significance in the development of friendly relations between our countries.

The trip changed the planned plans, but seemed very interesting, although difficult and dangerous. And now, after saying goodbye (once again!) to my family, I’m going to the “front” again - into the unknown! For the first time after the war, I left my homeland for a long time. On the train I thought about the fierce battles that Soviet troops fought in the recent past for the liberation of Hungary from fascism, especially the battles for Lake Balaton, the city of Székesfehérvár, for Budapest, about the well-known Hungarian art: the music of V. Bartók, J. Kalman, F. Liszt, who impressed with her temperament and lyricism, about Hungarian operettas, which were performed with great success in theaters in our country. He recalled what is known about Hungarian medicine, which has been of a high level since the second half of the 19th century: surgeons Hültl and Petz developed a stapler for operations on the stomach and intestines, Koranyi, Rusnjak and others made a significant contribution to the development of therapy. Of course, I also remembered I. Semmelweis, the largest obstetrician of the 19th century, who, like N.I. Pirogov, was the predecessor of D. Lister in the discovery of the era of antiseptics.

In 1950, in Budapest, quite unexpectedly, I had to meet K.E. Voroshilov. This was the second meeting. K.E. I knew Voroshilov from my student years - he often came to us at Moscow State University, especially to the club on Mokhovaya. He was young then, a little over 40 years old, energetic and cheerful, spoke little, recalled episodes of the Civil War. But we already knew about the legendary People's Commissar and were proud to know him, his sympathy for us and the handshakes that he generously and simply distributed to young people.

In subsequent years, his speeches were published in Pravda, we saw him receiving a parade of troops on Red Square. Of course, at that time the thought did not occur to me that years would pass and I would have to meet this man more than once during the tragic days of his life.

Once, during an operation in a Budapest clinic, I was told that I urgently needed to go to K.E. Voroshilov. I finished the operation, quickly got dressed and went. They excitedly explained to me that K.E., who had arrived the day before to celebrate the Liberation Day of Hungary. Voroshilov fell ill.

I walk into the room and see Kliment Efremovich smiling in bed. The years have taken their toll - Voroshilov turned grey, his face became covered with wrinkles. He said hello and asked me to examine him, since he did not agree with the doctors, he was feeling better and today, April 4, he had to make a report in Parliament at the opening of the holiday. Acquaintance with the medical history and a thorough examination allowed us to make a diagnosis: functional intestinal paresis. A strict diet and bed rest were required. After a short discussion, we agreed that Kliment Efremovich would make a report and give me a signal from the presidium, we would go to him, and he would go to bed.

That's how it all happened K.E. Voroshilov recovered and invited me two days later to a farewell dinner. He turned out to be an attentive conversationalist and listened well to others. He asked me for a long time about work. We said goodbye warmly.

During his next visit in April 1951, I was planning to leave for Moscow. Kliment Efremovich found out about this. He came to the farewell, joked, danced, reproached me for not dancing, and said to my wife: “Why, Ekaterina Mikhailovna, did you choose a husband who doesn’t dance - this is not good.”

And we talked many more times with K.E. Voroshilov in Moscow in 1955 and later. He was then Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. One day he invited me, as the chief surgeon of the IV Directorate, to the Kremlin. I walked along the quiet corridors, opened the door to the reception room and, after the secretary’s report, found myself face to face with K.E. Voroshilov. He called me to ask me to personally operate on the 16-year-old daughter of the Afghan king, Mariam. She was operated on twice in Cologne (Germany) for appendicitis. Adhesions formed, which probably caused severe pain, prolapse of the kidney and other disorders in the abdominal cavity. Voroshilov said that “God forbid that something happens to her, because today we have friendly relations with Afghanistan.” The complex operation went well. Girl got rid of pain, during the five months of her stay in the hospital and sanatorium "Barvikha" she noticeably gained weight. She began to speak a little Russian and learned to ski, but her father did not allow her to study in Moscow to become a doctor. Later she got married and left with her family for Europe.

With the name B.V. Petrovsky is associated with the post-war development of Hungarian surgery and, especially, thoracic surgery, as well as blood transfusion services, traumatology and oncology. During this period, his “Lectures on Surgery”, monographs “Surgical Treatment of Vascular Injuries” and “Surgical Treatment of Cancer of the Esophagus and Cardia” were published in Hungarian. These publications received extremely high praise from the Hungarian medical community. The fruitful activity of B.V. Petrovsky as a surgeon, teacher, who in a short time trained his students and followers from among Hungarian surgeons, received high recognition: he was elected honorary chairman of the Hungarian Society of Surgeons, awarded the Hungarian Order of Merit, and later, in 1964, elected an honorary member Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and in 1967 - an honorary doctorate from the University of Budapest.

Upon returning from a Hungarian business trip to Moscow in 1951, Boris Vasilyevich was elected head of the department of faculty surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. N.I. Pirogov, previously headed by the famous surgeon N.A. Bogoraz. At the department B.V. Petrovsky worked until 1956.

In 1951 B.V. Petrovsky for the first time participates in the XIV Congress of the International Society of Surgeons in Paris, at which he made a report on surgery for esophageal cancer. At the same time, he participated in the Congress of Anesthesiologists, where he also made a presentation on local anesthesia in thoracic surgery.

The second time I visited Paris was in 1951. The XIV Congress of the International Society of Surgeons was held here on September 23-29. The Soviet delegation (besides me, still young surgeons, professors V.I. Struchkov and F.G. Uglov) participated in the substantive work of the first International Surgical Forum after World War II.

We settled in a small hotel, close to the Soviet embassy. Embassy staff spoke about the difficult political situation in the country, the growing authority and activity of the French Communist Party and its leader, Maurice Thorez, and the need to take measures to expand scientific contacts with French surgeons, who at that time had great authority in the International Society of Surgeons. This Society, organized in Brussels in 1902, is the most representative among many scientific international organizations. Over 120 national surgical societies are members, and their number increases every year.

The XIV Congress was held under the influence of the works of the largest European humanist scientists - R. Leriche, D. Monod, C. Dennis, A. Desjardins and others, who believed that it was necessary to unite in the Society all the forces of world surgery and that without the participation of surgeons of the USSR and countries There cannot be such a unification in Eastern Europe. The Congress was opened by the President - a prominent French surgeon, Professor René Leriche. As always, the first was the president's keynote address, which highlighted the state of modern surgery. The Technical Congress of Surgery, according to R. Leriche, is ahead of the development of theoretical branches of medicine. He called on surgeons to become more active in studying physiological problems. However, the speaker emphasized, the conclusions of the experiment must be transferred into practice with extreme caution. We must not forget about the individuality of the patient and the characteristics of the pathological process.

When meeting with us, R. Leriche was always friendly, polite, and charming. In contrast to the temperamental A. Desjardins, he behaved with restraint. Leriche and Desjardins were friends, and both received us (Soviet surgeons) cordially and organized visits for us to some large Parisian clinics.

We also met the famous French surgeon, President of the National Surgical Society, Professor Duquen, a communist since 1920 and a friend of Maurice Thorez. Made friends with him. Duquen worked in Toulouse and did not have an apartment in Paris, so we met in the evening at his artist granddaughter’s place. Here we became acquainted with modern French painting, but the phantasmagoria of images turned out to be incomprehensible to us, fans of classical art.

We made presentations: V.I. Struchkov - about traumatic shock, F.G. Uglov - about the development of pulmonary surgery in the USSR and I - about surgery of the esophagus and mediastinal organs. The reports were warmly received, and after the presentation we handed over reprints of our scientific works to some colleagues.

My report was to take place at a morning meeting in the Great Auditorium of the Sorbonne. A funny incident happened that morning. During a break between reports, A. Desjardins approached us and, smiling, asked if we believed him and if we considered him our friend. We, of course, answered in the affirmative. Then he asked to move my report to the evening meeting. I agreed, although without much pleasure. Desjardins asked everyone to remain in the hall.

A speaker from South America took the podium. Suddenly, at the very beginning of his speech, there was a noise in the hall, as if someone was shooting somewhere. Almost the entire hall stood up, the seats slammed and... the surgeons left the audience. The speaker finished his speech in front of an almost empty audience. We were perplexed. “If this happened during your report, professor, you would consider such an incident a demonstration of disrespect,” said Desjardins, who approached us. “But the fact is that the French always have lunch at exactly 12 o’clock and even artillery cannonade would not prevent this custom." Everyone laughed and we thanked our new friend. In the evening my report was successful with a full audience.

The Congress was meaningful. During the war and in the post-war period, many new experimental and clinical observations in the field of surgery accumulated in the world. Surgeons again turned to the problems of cardiovascular pathology, as evidenced by the reports of G. Bauer on vein thrombosis, A. Blackmore on portal hypergenia, etc. A common topic of discussion was the problem of risk in surgery.

An interesting report was made by an American surgeon, based on a study of archives of medical histories dating back to 1814. The author, having thoroughly studied the archives, showed that among the wounded of all nationalities, Russian soldiers and officers suffered military trauma more easily than others and the mortality rate in Russian hospitals was lower. The author saw the reason for this in the hardening of the soldiers and in their nutrition. Among the food products that were fed to Russian soldiers, he singled out buckwheat porridge and sauerkraut, which contain a large amount of healthy proteins, amino acids, vitamins and microelements.

Subsequently, Boris Vasilyevich was an indispensable and active participant in all congresses of the Moscow Organizing Society and other surgical forums.

Since 1953 B.V. Petrovsky, at the same time as heading the department, is also the chief surgeon of the 4th Main Directorate under the USSR Ministry of Health. He worked in this responsible position for 13 years.

New times have come. N.S. Khrushchev was afraid of medicine and at the same time did not like it, although he resorted to the help of doctors for himself and his loved ones. The year was 1954. On Granovsky Street in the old hospital there was a surgical department with only 26 beds. A good clinic was built in Sivtsev Vrazhek Lane, and there we also carried out surgical treatment in two offices and a small operating room.

In fact, everyone - professors and associate professors - were part-time workers here, having their main job in Moscow clinics. The head of Lechsanupra was then the therapist Professor A.M. Markov, who did a lot to treat the wounded and sick during the Great Patriotic War. In fact, I knew him from that time on. And so in May 1954, Professor Markov and I were invited to N.S.’s apartment. Khrushchev. His wife Nina Petrovna fell ill. Large apartment with official furnishings. Nina Petrovna was lying in the bedroom. “She just ended with a severe attack of pain in the right precostal area,” the attending physician reported. Upon examination and palpation of the abdominal wall, we did not find anything suspicious. They recommended a diet, and they themselves exchanged opinions on the diagnosis, suggesting an attack of cholecystitis, with the presence of a valve stone at the exit of the gallbladder. Literally every three hours we were called to the Khrushchevs, and we examined the patient. They decided to hospitalize her, urgently examined her in the hospital and found stones in her gall bladder. The head of the department invited Nikita Sergeevich to the hospital. N.S. Khrushchev made a pleasant impression on me. Well preserved at 60 years old, a strong, calm man. I was impressed by his quick consent to the operation and request to perform it.

"Is the operation dangerous?" - asked Khrushchev. - “Like everyone else.” But this is relatively safe if diagnosed early. The operation the next day went smoothly. He removed the gallbladder, which was filled (as we expected) with many stones. At one o'clock in the afternoon Nikita Sergeevich arrived. I explained to him that what was planned was accomplished, the patient woke up after anesthesia and felt satisfactory. - “Can I see Nina Petrovna?” - asked Khrushchev. - “It’s better to do it tomorrow.”

After 10 days, Nina Petrovna was discharged home. I visited her several times at her dacha, sometimes meeting with Khrushchev. He hospitably invited me to have tea. Every time I tried to take advantage of the opportunity and, as if by chance, spoke about the needs of medicine. But I almost always tried in vain. Khrushchev seemed not to hear me.

USSR Minister of Health S.V. Kurashov asked me to talk with the prime minister on two issues: the transfer of two medical institutes to the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Health and the construction of several Moscow hospitals. It was noon. We sat at the table at the government dacha and drank tea. We also drank a glass of cognac. The conversation became livelier. Nikita Sergeevich had a sense of humor and loved to joke. He shared his impressions of working at the mine. His face expressed goodwill, he laughed. And although before that all his reviews about medicine were skeptical, choosing an opportune moment, I conveyed to him S.V.’s requests. Kurashova. Khrushchev's mood immediately deteriorated. - “Have you become a lawyer? It seems you came here as an attending physician!” - he said angrily. Nina Petrovna began to calm him down and asked for medical help. Having pulled himself together, Nikita Sergeevich seemed to forget what was said and again turned into a good-natured, hospitable host. I had a hard time with this conversation and, frankly speaking, feared for the fate of our minister. But nothing bad happened to Kurashov. In general, while talking with Khrushchev, I realized that he, like many healthy people, underestimates doctors. In any case, outside of meetings of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee, in my opinion, I invited them extremely rarely. And what’s much worse is that, just like under Stalin, little money was allocated for medicine.

Period 1951-1956 is important not only in the creative biography of Boris Vasilyevich, but also for the further progress of surgery in the country.

Firstly, because during these years, operations for cardiospasm and other pathologies of the chest organs using a diaphragm flap became developed and became famous not only in the country, but also abroad. The plastic properties of the diaphragm and its rich blood supply, starting in 1947, attracted the attention of the scientist and were experimentally developed by him in Hungary. The idea of ​​using a diaphragm was subsequently used in a number of operations proposed by B.V. Petrovsky (plastic surgery for diverticula and tumors of the esophagus, plastic surgery for cardiac aneurysms, etc.).

Secondly, during this period, surgery of acquired and congenital heart defects, started by B.V., began to take shape as an independent field. Petrovsky still in Hungary. In addition to the development of heart operations themselves, he actively organizes the introduction of endotracheal anesthesia into clinical practice and creates a special postoperative department for thoracic patients - the prototype of a modern intensive care unit. All this made it possible to successfully perform heart operations.

In the post-war years, in connection with the interests of “major surgery,” anesthesiology and resuscitation began to take shape - medical specialties that, as time has confirmed, had an exceptional influence on the development of medicine as a whole. In particular, the first department in the country, in fact, in which patients were observed after complex reconstructive operations and, according to current concepts, intensive therapy was carried out (if necessary, closed and open cardiac massage, defibrillation, artificial ventilation, therapeutic anesthesia with nitrous oxide, etc.). Later, the experience of using nitrous oxide B.V. Petrovsky (with S.N. Efuni) summarized in the monograph “Therapeutic Anesthesia” (1967), translated into Hungarian and published in Hungary (1968).

It is impossible not to note how right Boris Vasilievich was when, in the first post-war years, he persistently spoke about the need to create powerful areas, which subsequently formed anesthesiology and resuscitation. In particular, B.V. confidently spoke about such a prospect. Petrovsky, speaking at the Congress of Anesthesiologists in 1951 (Paris).

In fact, B.V. Petrovsky turned out to be one of the active participants in the first steps of these specialties.

Finally, these years brought B.V. Petrovsky is widely recognized for his surgical skill and scientific achievements. In 1955, he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, and 2 years later, in 1957, a full member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. One of the largest surgical schools in Russia began to form - the school of B.V. Petrovsky.

Scientific schools have always had great authority in society in all countries. So, in our country, schools N.I. Pirogova, I.M. Sechenova, I.P. Pavlova, V.M. Bekhtereva, N.N. Anichkova, L.A. Orbeli, S.P. Fedorova, V.A. Oppelya, A.V. Martynova, N.A. Velyaminova, P.A. Herzen, I.I. Grekova, A.P. Krymova, M.P. Konchalovsky, V.A. Gilyarovsky and many other medical scientists made a great contribution to science and trained many specialists for post-revolutionary Russia.

A scientific school is not born out of nowhere - it is prepared by its predecessors. She does not isolate herself in the circle of only her own ideas, but uses everything that world science gives. In addition to originality, and perhaps originality of ideas, the scientific director of a school cannot only be a leader in any field of knowledge, but must have talented students who continue the traditions of the school, without which it cannot exist, and bear an honorary title that is not officially designated by anyone leader or founder of a scientific school.

By the fifties and sixties, the schools of P.K. had established themselves in physiology and pathophysiology. Anokhina, L.A. Orbeli, A.A. Bogomolets; in therapy - G.G. Langa, N.D. Strazhesko, V.P. Obraztsova, M.P. Konchalovsky, A.L. Myasnikova; in surgery - N.N. Petrova, P.A. Kupriyanova, V.N. Shamova, S.I. Spasokukotsky, A.V. Vishnevsky, A.G. Savinykh, S.S. Yudina; in ophthalmology - A.N. Filatova; in hygienic science - N.A. Semashko, A.N. Sysina and others.

While still working at the Oncological Institute under P.A. Herzen, Boris Vasilyevich, then a young scientist-surgeon, clearly felt and correctly assessed the need to form, as they say today, “your team,” to educate like-minded people, students devoted to the ideas and principles of the Teacher. In the creation of the school B.V. Petrovsky saw the opportunity to implement his large-scale plans when, in the post-war years, he began to form a new direction - reconstructive surgery, the credo of which, as the scientist emphasized, “is to remove, resect, amputate, extirpate as little as possible and, on the contrary, preserve the organ and tissue, reimplant limbs and their fragments, use artificial materials (plastics, metal) in reconstruction, replacing tissues and even organs with them, develop transplantation of organs and tissues, and methods of outtransplantation.” This line became one of the most important in B.V.’s entire creative activity. Petrovsky.

In 1956 B.V. Petrovsky returned to work at the 1st Moscow Medical Institute. THEM. Sechenov and was elected to the Department of Hospital Surgery, which he held until 1947. was supervised by his teacher P.A. Herzen. Boris Vasilyevich headed the department for more than 30 years, he devoted a lot of attention to working with students, repeatedly emphasizing the high responsibility of teachers in the formation of a new generation of doctors. It has become one of the most respected and well-known surgical institutions outside the country. While remaining a professor at the department, B.V. Petrovsky continued to give lectures, participate in classes with students, and supervise the research activities of young scientists. He instilled in them the point of view that any operation, even the simplest one, should be carefully justified and aimed at saving the patient’s life and improving his condition. Before transferring a new method to the clinic, or deciding to perform an operation on a person, it is necessary to carefully and comprehensively test it in an experiment, and formulate clear anatomical and morphological justifications.

When I started to head the department and clinic 1 of Moscow State University of Pedagogical Medical Research, my “Alma Mater,” I experienced great excitement. My dream came true of running the clinic where I studied. I believed that the main focus of the clinic’s activities should be the development of reconstructive surgery. The clinic team supported this new direction. It was necessary to conduct serious discussions, prepare conditions for such large operations as removal of the esophagus affected by cancer and the creation of an artificial esophagus, operations on blood vessels, lungs, and heart. It required the organization of resuscitation and anesthesiology, and then a laboratory of artificial circulation, the use of angiography, and the introduction of artificial circulation. To the clinic where such qualified specialists as E.S. worked. Shahbazyan, R.G. Sakayan, N.V. Troyan, V.I. Petrov, I.Z. Kozlov and others, new surgeons and representatives of other professions entered - S.I. Babichev, N.N. Malinovsky, G.M. Soloviev, O.B. Milonov, E.N. Vantsyan, A.A. Bunyatyan, R.N. Lebedeva, V.I. Shumakov, S.N. Efuni, V.S. Krylov and others. It was difficult to find premises - there were not enough of them. By 1960, the department's staff, which had proven itself with innovations, became even more popular. It was like an army before an offensive. And this army received the opportunity for a breakthrough - in 1963, on the basis of the clinic and laboratory of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, the Scientific Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery (NIIKiEH) of the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR was organized, which soon received a new, 6-story building on the territory of the 1st Medical Institute. A clinic with 300 beds, 4 operating rooms, laboratories, all this, like a dream come true, inspired the team to new successes in surgery. Soon the institute had the opportunity to build a 4-story hyperbaric oxygenation center nearby and received a 2-story building of the former S.S. Institute. Bryukhonenko, nearby, on Pogodinka. It has become possible to work successfully in large sections of reconstructive reconstructive surgery.

By the time the new institute opened, the experience of studying the most complex scientific and practical problems had been summarized and formalized in the form of monographs “Surgery of the mediastinum” (1960), “Clinic and surgical treatment of thyroxic goiter” (jointly with V.S. Semenov, 1961. ) and “Surgical treatment of patent ductus arteriosus” (together with A.A. Keshisheva, 1960). During these years B.V. Petrovsky developed an original operation for relaxation of the diaphragm. Boris Vasilyevich showed a film demonstrating the surgical technique to the participants of the XVIII Congress of the International Society of Surgeons in Munich (Germany) in 1959. This work was a fragment of extensive research into the use of alloplasty in surgery. Conducted under the leadership of B.V. Petrovsky in 1964, the plenum of the All-Union Society of Surgeons and Traumatologists highly appreciated the results obtained by the team.

The range of scientific research and the scope of activities of NIIKiEH soon went beyond the scope of surgery itself: major discoveries, inventions, and intensive scientific developments were made at the intersection of surgery with physics, chemistry, and biology. Reconstructive and restorative surgery has become the center of scientific and practical interests, and the great scientific potential has made it possible to carry out scientific developments at the level of world standards and actively introduce them into practical healthcare. The experience of the first decade has shown that this kind of research institution, combined with the department, ensures significant success in all levels of work. These were already confident, firm steps of the domestic surgical scientific school of B.V. Petrovsky. Scientific creativity of B.V. Petrovsky is distinguished, first of all, by a wide range of research and interests that have long gone beyond the scope of surgery itself, a constant desire for something new, and the ability to find exactly the starting point in solving a given problem, which is the only correct one. The richest clinical experience, multiplied by a fundamental store of knowledge, and subtle intuition, helped to see even those prospects that were revealed in areas of knowledge that seemed to be very remote from surgery. With all the variety of issues that interested him - from the creation of specific surgical methods to entire branches of medicine, reconstructive and restorative surgery remained the center of scientific and practical interests. Undoubtedly, B.V. Petrovsky was one of the founders and creators of this field of medicine.

The main directions of scientific thought, the most important problems are surgery of the heart and blood vessels, lungs, trachea and bronchi, esophagus and stomach, liver and biliary tract, microsurgery, oxygen barosurgery, X-ray ethdovascular surgery, clinical physiology, transplantation and creation of artificial organs, development of new modern methods of anesthesia and resuscitation, diagnostic techniques, development and implementation of original samples of new medical equipment, surgical instruments, suture materials. The fundamental scientific works of B.V. are related to these same problems. Petrovsky, which also reflected his practical experience as a doctor, a polyvalent virtuoso surgeon. Suffice it to say that B.V. Petrovsky owns more than 700 scientific works, of which about 40 are monographs.

The birth of heart surgery as an independent scientific and practical direction in modern surgery can be safely attributed to 1953, when B.V. Petrovsky performed one of the first operations in the country - digital mitral commissurotomy. Only five years passed after the first closed mitral commissurotomy, and on November 11, 1958, B.V. Petrovsky performed one of the first in the country and the first in a hospital surgery clinic to perform an operation with artificial circulation on a girl with an atrial septal defect.

In 1960, B.V. Petrovsky, A.A. Vishnevsky, E.N. Meshalkin, P.A. Kupriyanov was awarded the Lenin Prize for the development and implementation of new operations on the heart and large vessels. In 1961, Boris Vasilyevich was awarded the Order of Lenin.

In addition to the fame of an outstanding scientist, practitioner and teacher, Boris Vasilyevich gained recognition as an excellent health care organizer. He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Council of the country of the VI-X convocations.

In September 1965, B.V. Petrovsky is appointed to the post of Minister of Health of the USSR. Despite the new large and responsible work, he continued to remain the director of his brainchild - the Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery and headed the department, regularly operated and conducted scientific research.

From September 1965 to December 1980, I headed the USSR Ministry of Health. Before his appointment to the post of minister, a meeting was held with the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev. During the conversation, we mainly discussed the problems of Soviet healthcare. In fact, he asked me questions about work, surgery, shortcomings in the health care system, scientific problems, etc. I answered. Especially detailed L.I. Brezhnev demanded that our difficulties be highlighted. I noted the low level of material resources in healthcare, hospitals, and clinics. He emphasized that we suffer greatly from the lack of necessary equipment and medicines, which is why it is sometimes very difficult to operate, and it is difficult to prevent infectious complications. I also spoke about the difficulties of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

The Secretary General made remarks and critical remarks addressed to the Ministry of Health. He also remembered the first People's Commissar of Health N.A. Semashko and noted his role in the development of post-October healthcare. At the end of the conversation, Leonid Ilyich said: “So we want you to take the leadership of our medicine into your own hands and apply your extensive experience in peaceful and military healthcare in this matter.”

The offer was unexpected. I was confused and said that I didn’t want to change my profession, I wanted to continue researching clinical transplantology. In addition, I have no experience of large organizational work of this scale.

L.I. Brezhnev, smiling, replied that my candidacy was discussed in the Politburo, which took into account my many years of experience as a surgeon, military organizational work, work in Hungary, and then in Moscow as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Of course, you will have to seriously study hygiene, epidemiology, sanitary service, and get acquainted with the medical industry. The official phrase sounded: “Think seriously. Goodbye!”

Three days later I was invited to the Central Committee for the second time. This time, in response to my request not to appoint L.I. as minister. Brezhnev answered dryly: “Apparently, you did not understand the essence of the question. We have already discussed this at the Politburo, and if you have a desire, you can speak at our meeting in an hour.”

I remained silent, thought, and then answered that I would never go against the will of the party.

For almost 16 years as minister B.V. Petrovsky was directly involved in the development and implementation of all the most important documents aimed at improving public health care. Range of activities of B.V. Petrovsky was exceptionally broad, given the tasks facing the health authorities. This is to ensure high quality medical care, the effectiveness of preventive measures that help improve health and active longevity; providing the population with all types of specialized assistance; creation of large multidisciplinary and specialized treatment and preventive institutions equipped with modern technology and staffed with highly qualified specialists; expanding the functions and rights of sanitary supervision, especially in the field of sanitary protection of environmental objects; bringing together the levels of medical care for urban and rural populations; further improvement of the health of women and children and workers of industrial enterprises.

B.V. Petrovsky participated in the preparation of government decrees on measures to further improve healthcare, developed and implemented the most rational and scientifically based forms of activity of healthcare bodies and institutions. Constructive measures were taken to combat morbidity and injury, protect the environment, protect motherhood and childhood, expand the number of dispensary services, etc. Measures were taken to improve the sanitary condition of populated areas (all-Union hygienic norms and standards were developed and implemented, aimed at further improving working conditions in industrial enterprises).

B.V. Petrovsky made a great contribution to the implementation of the course for the construction of large specialized and multidisciplinary medical and research institutions. With his active participation, new scientific institutes were organized (influenza, gastroenterology, pulmonology, organ and tissue transplantation, eye diseases).

As for the construction of medical institutions - hospitals, clinics, etc., we should have started with their design. In accordance with government decisions (1966 and 1968), Giprozdrav was organized - the parent institute with branches in Ukraine and Central Asia. A review of all projects immediately began and the task was given to design new hospitals: central district, regional clinical, ambulance, children's hospitals, maternity hospitals of various capacities, psychiatric hospitals, clinics, ambulance stations, sanitary and epidemiological stations and other institutions. All new projects were carefully considered, supplemented and approved at meetings of the Board of the Ministry and special meetings. It is quite understandable that lack of funding and scarce material resources limited construction. We were forced to switch to standard construction based on domestic construction complexes of walls, ceilings, etc. taking into account the cost of a bed and other factors. All this dictated a certain rather low level and long construction times for all buildings of medical institutions. As a result, the projects inevitably quickly became outdated, and there remained a discrepancy between the volumes of all working premises and the large proportion of the area of ​​patient wards. But still, the share of area allocated for wards decreased to 60%, and the laboratory part of hospitals increased to 30-40%, as is the case in foreign projects.

In June 1966, a meeting dedicated to the first celebration of Medical Worker Day was held in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. We carefully prepared for it. Guests were invited - representatives of enterprises, leaders of the capital and the Central Committee, public organizations. Members of the government were present. I gave a presentation on the development of healthcare, difficulties, shortcomings and plans for the future. The holiday went well; Similar meetings were held in all republics. Soon, following our example, Teacher’s Day was established, and then the same days were established in all sectors of the national economy.

A major contribution to the development of healthcare was the organization and construction of institutions of international importance in Moscow: the All-Union Oncology Center, the All-Union Cardiology Center and the All-Union Research Center for Maternal and Child Health, which was also carried out with the direct participation of B.V. Petrovsky.

The task of universally providing the population with all types of specialized medical care required increased attention to issues of personnel training. On the initiative of Boris Vasilyevich, a number of educational institutions were organized and reorganized, new specialties were introduced; New institutes and faculties for advanced training of doctors were created at some medical institutes, new pediatric and dental faculties.

Minister B.V. Petrovsky paid a lot of attention and effort to improving the training of personnel with secondary medical and pharmaceutical education. On his initiative, a government decree was developed “On measures to further improve the management of secondary specialized educational institutions and to improve the quality of training of specialists with secondary specialized education” (1974).

In 1968, he issued an order “On improving the system of advanced training for management personnel of health authorities and institutions,” which had a significant impact on the progress of work in this area.

On the initiative of B.V. Petrovsky carried out a large amount of work on the creation of domestic medical equipment and instruments, many types of which are still not inferior to the best foreign models. Of fundamental importance in this regard was the resolution of a special government commission, which obliged industrial ministries to develop the necessary apparatus and instruments for the needs of the Ministry of Health. In accordance with the decree, the ministries were assigned areas of development, which ensured their specialization and coordination of research and development work. This was the first time such coordination at the government level was carried out in the country's healthcare system.

In 1967, the production of medical equipment and instruments was separated into a separate industry. Further equipping of hospitals, clinics, clinics, and research institutions with sophisticated medical equipment required the involvement of many ministries and departments in this matter, which was recorded in a number of resolutions of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers in 1977 and 1980. and in other documents.

I would like to note that the cooperation of major medical scientists and major engineering scientists working in the USSR Academy of Sciences and in industrial departments has always played a significant role in the creation of new medical equipment. Thus, the connections of our Scientific Center for Surgery with industrial organizations made it possible to develop and create a unique complex of medical pressure chambers, which has no analogues in world practice, which was noted in 1977 with the USSR State Prize. To equip hyperbaric oxygenation services in the largest cities of the former USSR, with the help of enterprises of the military-industrial complex, individual single pressure chambers were constructed (Oka, Irtysh, BL-Z) and about 600 barotherapy departments were organized. Long-term creative collaboration with academician N.V. Pilyugin led to the creation of a unique computerized monitoring system for the operating room "Symphony", awarded in 1983 with a prize from the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Much work has been done to develop needle-free injectors, which have found widespread use in mass vaccinations, anesthesiology, surgery and other areas (USSR State Prize, 1980). Of fundamental importance was the serial production of domestic electronic fluometers (RKE-2, RKE-Z), which are equipped in all Centers for Vascular and Cardiac Surgery. In 1980, the developers were awarded the USSR State Prize.

I remember June 1968. At a session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the first time, the USSR Ministry of Health's report on health care was presented as the main report - the result of a lot of hard work by the apparatus of the Ministry of the Union and the ministries of the republics, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the entire medical community, the science department of the CPSU Central Committee. The meeting took place at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. Delegates from the All-Union Congress of Therapists, which was taking place in Moscow in those days, were invited. About 5 thousand people listened to the report; when I came to the podium, I was very worried. I had every reason to worry and elevate my mood - in the morning the newspapers published a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR conferring on me the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Like each of us in similar cases, I was filled with a feeling of gratitude to the party and the government for the high appreciation of my work.

As a minister, Boris Vasilyevich traveled a lot around the country, held activities for healthcare workers, got acquainted with city and regional rural hospitals, health centers, medical units, and medical factories. equipment, etc.

Many facts confirm that Boris Vasilyevich enjoyed authority in government circles of the country. Largely due to this circumstance, his initiatives and proposals were supported, and proposals of a strategic, as already mentioned, scale, taking into account the interests and needs of the country and its people. B.V. Petrovsky carried out many assignments at the state level and with extreme responsibility. This indicated a high appreciation of his activities and trust. Thus, Boris Vasilyevich headed the State Emergency Commission to combat cholera epidemics, represented the country at the highest levels abroad, etc.

At the suggestion of B.V. Petrovsky, thanks to his perseverance, for the first time in the history of the country, a large number of practical healthcare workers were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for their selfless, humane work.

On duty and as a minister, I had to deal with A.N. Kosygin, a power-hungry, smart and tough man. And then his wife died after surgery for advanced cancer. She was operated on by an excellent surgeon - V.S. They loomed, but nothing could be done. A.N. Kosygin loved his wife very much and suffered deeply after her death. But the surgeon is not God. Kosygin then angrily accused medicine and doctors.

At the end of the seventies, I wanted to meet with Brezhnev, but he no longer received anyone. The only person who had access to it was K.W. Chernenko. I called him. Sharply he said: 4.5-5% of the gross product per year cannot be allocated to medicine, unlike the USA, where 10-12% of the gross product is allocated to medicine.

Chernenko received me immediately. Tea was served with bagels. I started from afar - I want to consult with you. I am also an elderly person, I was born and lived nine years before the revolution, I survived Stalinism, the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, the arrest of fellow doctors... I know where letters to the government sometimes lead. I’m not afraid of losing my ministerial position, but I would like to continue working as a scientist and surgeon. In short, I wrote a rather harsh letter to Brezhnev about our healthcare. I would like to consult with you - should I give it away? Please read it. After all, now you are the only one who has access to Leonid Ilyich. I prepared the letter in advance and took it with me, but did not sign it. He wrote about the plight of the country’s healthcare, that 70 kopecks. the amount of medicine per patient per day is ridiculously low. He gave a mortality curve, including for children. He talked about the lack of equipment, medicines, and ineffective medicines. He proposed creating a Health Fund (by the way, the first project for our country). He spoke about the need for better equipment in medical institutions. He outlined specific measures, for example, reducing the number of small poverty-stricken hospitals. And in those hospitals that remain, he proposed creating normal conditions for treatment. In short, less is more. He proposed devoting one of the UN sessions to healthcare and establishing closer contacts between world and domestic medicine. Konstantin Ustinovich, thoughtful, said: “Give me your letter.” He read it in front of me. I read it, as it seemed to me, with excitement. I thought. “What you wrote made a great impression on me. I’ll try to show it to Brezhnev.” I left a letter - come what may. And then I caught a cold - I got pneumonia. I'm not calling Chernenko. Ten days later, assistant L.I. Brezhnev returns my message. On it, in Brezhnev's handwriting, there is a resolution: “The letter is interesting and important. I propose to create a commission under the leadership of N.A. Tikhonov and report to the Politburo, having prepared proposals.” And Brezhnev's signature. But mine wasn't there. And I signed the letter after the resolution on it. Here's how it happened.

Boris Vasilyevich made an exceptional contribution to the development of international relations; this was facilitated to no small extent by the recognition of his personal merits and contribution to surgery, medicine and healthcare by the world medical community.

B.V. Petrovsky constantly participated in meetings of health ministers of socialist countries. With his participation, such important issues as the organization of health care for workers of industrial enterprises in socialist countries were resolved within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Berlin, 1975), integration and specialization in health care (Piestany, Czechoslovakia, 1977), and the determination of the main directions for the development of sanitary -epidemiological service in socialist countries (Zakopane, 1978), discussion of perinatology as a problem and prospects for its development in socialist countries (Sofia, 1979), the development of gerontology and geriatrics (Bucharest, 1980) and many others.

After the XXIX session of CMEA decided in 1975 to create a Permanent Commission on Cooperation in the Field of Health, B.V. Petrovsky not only participated in the work of the Commission, but also actively contributed to the successful implementation of its decisions.

Significant development during the leadership of B.V. The Petrovsky Ministry of Health received cooperation with other countries. There was a systematic exchange of experience in the field of science and health care practice with France, Finland, the USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Japan and other countries on the basis of concluded intergovernmental agreements and protocols.

The first of them is a special intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of medicine and medical technology between the USSR and France (1969). Cooperation in the field of healthcare and medical science with the United States has become important. In 1971, as a result of Soviet-American negotiations, an agreement was reached on cooperation on the problems of cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumors and environmental health. This was recorded in the documents exchanged by the ministers of health of the USSR and the USA (1972), and subsequent Agreements concluded, on the basis of which in 1972-1976. In general, cooperation developed successfully on all agreed upon issues.

I would like to return once again to the idea of ​​what the attitude of state leaders to healthcare is. It is clear how important it is to pay great attention to protecting the health of the people. This is necessary for the country's politics and economy. But this, in turn, is connected with the health of the leader himself and his family, where an atmosphere of respect for medicine and doctors should be created. The importance of protecting the health of state leaders themselves is also great. I had to specifically deal with this issue not only in our country, but also in other regions. Before prominent government figures came to us in the sixties and seventies, it was necessary, through the IV Department, to determine the conditions for emergency medical care in the guest’s places of stay. Most of these figures came with their doctors. Not all states have strictly defined forms of medical service under governments. In some countries, such as France, one or two doctors were assigned to the president. Their work at the Elysee Palace counted as military service. More qualified doctors treated the presidents.

I had to meet the doctors of Presidents G.A. Nasser, S. de Gaulle, R. Nixon, V. Shiroky, M. Rakosi and others. He also knew several professors who treated Tsar Nicholas II. He had a large medical staff of personal physicians, in particular major surgeons and therapists. The managers did not establish trusting relationships with all of them. G.A. did not fully trust his doctors. Nasser. They were constantly treated by us and, in particular, with my participation. For example, the President of Bangladesh came with his staff of several dozen people. He was placed in the Barvikha sanatorium.

There A.N. Kosygin, together with me, talked with him and the doctors who participated in the consultations, and Kremlin doctors treated him for widespread atherosclerosis, hepatitis and other diseases. Nasser was insecure and depressed. We consulted him and treated him in Tskhaltubo and in the Kuntsevo hospital - he had widespread atherosclerosis. The leaders of Albania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, the GDR, party leaders of France, Italy, England, the USA and other countries were also treated with us in Moscow and at resorts. I had to operate in Moscow on almost all the leaders of Albania, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Czechoslovakia, the leaders of Hungary, etc. All of them wanted to receive qualified treatment in Moscow. Even the daughter of the King of Afghanistan, Mariam, and members of the royal family came to Moscow for a complex operation and were treated with us. At the same time, not a single member of the USSR Politburo was treated by foreign doctors.

Returning to the attitude of state leaders to their health, I wanted to emphasize that many of them are afraid of cancer. This formidable diagnosis unsettles even courageous people, and that is why every unrecognized case of cancer and failed treatment of people close to them hurts the authority of medicine so painfully. So, for example, in the sixties, De Gaulle, on his own initiative, attracted the leaders of five states, including the USSR, to organize (at their expense) an international center for cancer research in Lyon. Its opening took place already under J. Pompidou. I had the chance to meet him in Lyon in 1973. All of our health care agreements with major Western countries included clauses regarding cancer research and cancer control.

On the initiative of A.N. Kosygin, in addition to the ten oncology institutes and laboratories that existed in the country, construction of the largest All-Union Oncology Center began in Moscow. R. Nixon, in connection with the emerging discoveries of scientists about the allegedly viral nature of cancer and the creation of an anti-cancer vaccine (Rauscher - USA, Lapin - USSR), in the early seventies, removed oncology from the jurisdiction of the US Department of Health and subordinated this section of medicine to himself - the president. Professor Rauscher was appointed assistant to the US President for oncology, and over $900 million was allocated for the development of oncology. A huge medical center in Baltimore - Fort Detrick - was transferred to a cancer center.

True, the studies of oncologists were soon rechecked. They turned out to be unreliable, and oncology again came under the jurisdiction of the US Department of Health.

Leaders of all developed countries have paid and continue to pay much attention to atherosclerosis, the most common disease of the 20th century. But here, as in oncology, discoveries are still awaited that should radically solve this vital problem.

Undoubtedly, every society must take care of the health of its leaders. In the USSR and the former socialist countries of Europe, special services were organized for these purposes. This served as a signal for us to fight privileges. Within reasonable limits, they exist everywhere. However, the leaders of Western countries prefer to treat serious diseases, especially surgical ones, in military hospitals or in large university clinics.

During trips to other countries, presidential doctors study the conditions and level of medicine in the areas where their leader is located. They get acquainted mainly with the quality of emergency surgery and resuscitation, bring canned blood in containers in case of transfusion, as well as some instruments and medicines.

Do leaders have elements of deviation from scientifically established medical recommendations? Yes, of course there are. Thus, Tsar Nicholas II, in addition to a group of brilliant personal physicians, lived in the palace with a homeopath from Europe, displaced by the famous healer G. Rasputin. The tsar's family also used the services of P. Badmaev.

There are known examples from the life of Stalin, who resorted, for example, to unscientific methods of treating Dr. Kazakov. One could recall other facts when the leader and especially his family members used treatment from healers. At the same time, they were never excluded from the highly qualified treatment of their own physicians, and this seemed to warn and smooth out the harmful consequences of the actions of pseudo-scientific medicine. I, having sixty years of experience as a doctor, have formed my own idea about the health of people for whom fate was destined for an extreme degree of stress on the physical and neuro-emotional systems. With certain hereditary factors, training in childhood, adolescence and youth, a person can cope with these frequent stresses and overloads. And yet, even these people have an untimely, sometimes early (like V.I. Lenin) disease that primarily affects the arterial vascular system. More often than others, the coronary and carotid arteries react, and then a heart attack or ischemic cerebral infarction occurs, which is why most leaders died (De Gaulle, V.I. Lenin, I.V. Stalin, N.S. Khrushchev, A.N. Kosygin, L.I. Brezhnev, G.A. Nasser, etc.). Medical leaders take care of their health, which is necessary for the state and people. But the main thing here is prevention, which we recommend to all people - a healthy lifestyle, rest twice a year, avoidance of smoking, sleeping pills and moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately, it is the managers themselves who often abuse bad habits and thus, along with a lot of stress, cause harm to themselves. And doctors cannot cope with the tasks of prevention, which I have observed everywhere.

Some utopian theories and methods in all centuries have been proposed precisely to prolong the lives of leaders. Let us remember the drinking of fresh blood of babies in ancient times, various witchcraft spells, the preparation of “elixirs of life”, etc. But also in the 20th century. such fantasies do exist. So, A.A. Bogdanov is a doctor, a friend of Lenin, the same “God-seeker” from the island of Capri, whom V.I. so sharply criticized. Lenin in his works, the same one who left the Bolshevik Party, was a publicist, a science fiction writer and an outstanding scientist. In 1926, he organized the world's first Moscow Institute of Blood Transfusion, the scientific program of which was based on the idea of ​​massive exchange blood transfusion. He believed that these transfusions could rejuvenate the body of the new leaders of post-revolutionary Russia, worn out in exile and hard labor.

This method did not stand up to scientific criticism, but was important for subsequent discoveries of artificial blood circulation. The author himself is the director of the Institute of Blood Transfusion A.A. Bogdanov used this exchange transfusion on himself and died as a result of the experiment. A.A. Bogomolets and other scientists studied the results of stimulating doses of blood transfusions, fasting, various cytotoxic serums, lysates and other substances of various herbs, hormones, but all these methods turned out to be ineffective. The main thing today remains the mode of life, work and rest, physical culture, i.e. everything that scientific medicine recommends, and these recommendations are especially necessary for people with extremely stressful activities, in particular leaders of states.

Boris Vasilyevich has repeatedly visited many countries of the world, developing contacts with the largest representatives of medicine and with heads of state and heads of government. He took an active part in the work of the World Health Organization, headed delegations to the World Health Assemblies, made important proposals and resolutions on behalf of the country’s government, in particular, on the basic principles of the development of national health care and the general program of work of WHO, etc.

An important historical event was the signing of the Declaration on the Elimination of Smallpox in the World at the XXXIII World Health Assembly.

Representatives of the states participating in the Assembly unanimously noted the contribution of our country to the successful resolution of the issue (1980).

B.V. devoted a lot of time and effort. Petrovsky organizes and conducts international Congresses and Conferences of international societies. He led as president the work of the XXIV International Congress of Surgeons /1971, Moscow/. At the world Alma-Ata conference on the exchange of experience, the organization of primary health care for urban and rural populations organized by WHO and UNICEF (1978), at which the well-known program “Health of the World Population by the Year 2000” was adopted, Boris Vasilievich was also president and main speaker. In the Conference resolution, our country’s healthcare system was given a very high rating, and the ambulance service was recognized as the best in the world.

In conclusion, I would like to cite purely journalistic questions that I was asked already in 1990; “If you became a minister...” (after moving to the position of Honorary Director of the Surgery Center). Once upon a time there was such a section in newspapers. And everyone could express how he would turn the world upside down if fate had given him this high post.

So I was a minister. And in 15 years, a lot has been done, but the world has not turned upside down. Health care is part of the state and society, and it is developing taking into account the difficulties and achievements of the country's economy, and the Minister of Health now has no less difficulties than before. In any case, I would not agree to take on this burden again. And yet, sometimes you think - if fate would give you a chance, if it would take twenty-five years off your shoulders, perhaps, under certain conditions, something would work out.

People of my generation, who are going through a really difficult time and who, despite everything, have not lost their personal integrity and decency, respect and love for their own profession, have some experience that even the most dashing critics should not discount.

So, my experience as the son of a zemstvo doctor, a surgeon with sixty years of experience, suggests: do not completely break the clear design of the Soviet healthcare system. She needs changes, but not a complete breakdown. Just remember that there have been no epidemics in the country for many decades. Now they are. And child mortality corresponded to European indices, but became significantly higher than in other countries.

I have traveled a lot around the world, I have seen how things stand with medical care to the population in many countries. And I have my own opinion about what we should adopt and what not.

For example, you should not paint your own doctors black. The patient must trust the doctor. This faith is already half the success in treatment, and destroying this faith is destructive. And now, it seems to me, such an attitude towards doctors has almost become state policy in our country.

The system of primary medical care for the population was organized in our country not at all so bad (if compared to the world level): the work of district clinics, local doctors, emergency services, and ambulances. And the level of qualification of doctors is high, and scientists - professors, associate professors - are not lower than the world level.

The contribution of B.V. is extremely important. Petrovsky as a representative of the Pirogov Commission at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. This is a separate chapter of his activities. Suffice it to recall his active participation in the reorganization at the international level of the Museum-Estate of N.I. Pirogov in Vinnitsa (Ukraine), re-embalming the body of N.I. Pirogov, publication of the two-volume book “Proceedings of the Pirogov Readings 1957-1987”, systematic holding of the Pirogov Readings (the last one took place in 1997). Finally, the completion in 1997 of an extremely important project: a facsimile reissue of the outstanding work of N.I. Pirogov “Ice Anatomy” is a monument to domestic and world science and culture. For this work B.V. Petrovsky (together with Professor, Academician B.A. Konstantinov and Professor I.V. Bogorad) were awarded the personal prize N.I. Pirogov RAMS in 1998.

In 1955 B.V. Petrovsky was elected deputy chairman, and in 1965 - chairman of the All-Union Scientific Society of Surgeons, which he led for many years, and later - honorary president of the N.I. Association of Surgeons. Pirogov.

B.V. Petrovsky devoted a lot of time and attention to editorial and publishing activities. In 1952, Boris Vasilievich became editor of the journal "Surgery". The following important milestones can be noted: editor-in-chief of the "Big Medical Encyclopedia" - 3rd edition, "Small Medical Encyclopedia" in 10 volumes, "Concise Medical Encyclopedia" (3 volumes), several editions of the "Popular Medical Encyclopedia", the first domestic edition " Dictionary of Medical Terms" (3 volumes), "Atlas of Thoracic Surgery" in 2 volumes (1971, 1974), "Manual of Surgery" in 12 volumes (1960-1968), and such many years of work by Boris Vasilievich as editor-in-chief of the journal “Surgery”, etc.

International recognition of the merits and authority of B.V. Petrovsky was expressed in his election as an honorary member of the International Society of Surgeons, vice-president of the European Society of Cardiovascular Surgeons, honorary doctor of V. Berlin. Humboldt, Bratislava, Karpov (Prague) universities, honorary doctor of the medical faculty of Budapest, Krakow, Naples, Ulaanbaatar, Tartu universities, St. Petersburg Medical University. I.P. Pavlova, an honorary member of the academies of sciences of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, China, Serbia, Italy, and the German Academy of Naturalists “Leopoldina”. He was elected an honorary member of 14 foreign surgical societies, incl. American College of Surgeons. Royal College of Surgeons of England, Scotland and Ireland, French Academy of Surgeons, societies of surgeons in Bulgaria, Poland, Cuba, Italy, Sweden, Germany, etc., honorary member of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, honorary chairman of the Hungarian Society of Surgeons, honorary member of the Czechoslovak Purkinje Society, delegate all, starting from the XVI (1955), congresses of the International Society of Surgeons. In 1977, B.V. Petrovsky was awarded the honorary medal “Excellent Teacher of the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies” (Hungary). For his outstanding work, he was awarded the Leonard Bernard International Prize for the Development of Public Health at the WHO General Assembly in 1975.

Died in 2004.

BUNYATYAN Armen Artavazdovich

Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, laureate of State Prizes, Academician of the European Academy of Anesthesiology, Head of the Department of Anesthesiology of the Russian Scientific Center for Surgery of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

45 years ago, in 1953, I was a 6th year student and came as a subordinate to the faculty surgery clinic of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute, which was headed by 45-year-old professor B.V. Petrovsky. The group of subordinators was extremely friendly and, as subsequent years showed, promising. Among them, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences S.N. Efuni, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences A.V. Pokrovsky, chief surgeon of the Ministry of Civil Aviation Dr. Yu. Kvashnin, famous writer-surgeon Julius Krelin (Kreidlin in those years), Dr. V. Kiselyov, Dr. Yu.I. Tsitovsky and others.

I will remember my first meeting with B.V. for the rest of my life. Petrovsky. He told us that starting tomorrow he would perform a series of operations, starting with appendectomy, hernia repair, cholecystectomy, gastrectomy, especially for us, and that in our future activities we would perform these operations as he would show us. It is possible that today somewhere someone is doing the same, but at that time we, still students, not accustomed to such treatment, were pleasantly surprised and for the first time felt like doctors.

I also remember the end of the 50s, when Boris Vasilyevich invited me to become an anesthesiologist. At that time, I was already a candidate of science in surgery and greeted his proposals with more than restraint. This specialty did not yet exist in the country. However, Boris Vasilyevich was very convincing. He told me that without anesthesiology surgery cannot develop further. Persuaded. And thereby determined my entire future fate, for which I am deeply grateful to him. And finally, a few more touches to the portrait of this outstanding personality. I will never forget our trip to Tbilisi in the early 60s, when Boris Vasilyevich, Professor G.M. Soloviev and I went to Georgia to perform our first heart operations. Imagine that after the operations that we did every day for 5 days, we were loaded with such a program of Georgian hospitality that soon G.M. Soloviev and I passed, but Boris Vasilyevich remained like a piece of glass. I remember how he sincerely laughed at us, seeing our sad and swollen faces the next day.

One more thing. It seems like a small thing. An episode, but it characterizes a person. We were taken for a walk in the mountains. It cooled down. I felt cold. And then Boris Vasilyevich took off his woolen pullover and, despite my desperate resistance, pulled it on me. The boss, of course, doesn’t remember all this, but maybe he will. And today, when Boris Vasilyevich is 45x2, I am happy that fate gave me such a Teacher and may God grant him many more years of life and good health.

KONSTANTINOV Boris Alekseevich

Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, laureate of State Prizes, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, director of the Russian Scientific Center for Surgery of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

Life prepared a difficult test for me - ten years ago to head the Scientific Center for Surgery, which was created by my teacher Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky - the great Russian surgeon, the creator of a unique, world-recognized scientific school, which is based on the centuries-old traditions of Russian surgery coming from N.I. . Pirogova, A.V. Martynov, P.A. Herzen. I am glad that the Center is alive and developing. All new branches appear on the tree planted by our Teacher. Students of Boris Vasilyevich, students of his students, relying on the fundamental foundations laid by the master of surgery, successfully work as scientists and practitioners.

Boris Vasilyevich as a teacher, surgeon, healthcare organizer, founder of a number of areas in surgery, anesthesiology, resuscitation, hyperbaric medicine is so great that any monologue about him will be incomplete. I will limit myself to three or four points.

The first impression that remains for life. I was a student then.

Was present at the operation - the surgeon removed the spleen. This is an organ in which there are many small vessels, and when trying to isolate it, an acute situation arose - severe bleeding developed, as the vessels ruptured. The patient lost a lot of blood. The situation became critical. Boris Vasilyevich entered the operating room, immediately got his bearings, packed the wound with a towel and then calmly completed the operation. This episode, its determination and firmness, is a kind of signature style of B.V. Petrovsky, surgeon, person, public figure.

As Minister of the USSR for a decade and a half, Boris Vasilyevich did a lot to build national healthcare. Medicine and the medical industry in our country have become a system. The evidence for this is countless. On the initiative of B.V. Petrovsky created several major institutes, centers, and opened clinics. The domestic school of public health has established itself as an integral part of world medicine. This fact is undoubtedly recognized in America, Europe, and throughout the world.

I cannot help but note the special delicacy of Boris Vasilyevich. I remember how almost thirty years ago, after the institutes for E.I. were built. Chazova and N.N. Blokhin, and these projects were financed by Minister Petrovsky, I came to the boss and carefully asked: “Why don’t we create a modern base for our VNTsH?” (we inherited the old buildings of the Center from the nuns of the monastery). Boris Vasilyevich answered harshly: “Should I put my party card on the table?” Occupying the post of minister, having all possible powers and means at that time, he considered it inconvenient to expand his Center. So all the buildings were completed already in the 80s.

B.V. Petrovsky loves to collect and take photographs and slides; he has a large album at home. This applies not only to everyday life, but also to profession. He taught us that each conference, which is regularly held in our Center for many years and is a school for both young doctors, students, cadets, and “seasoned” surgeons, must be accompanied by slides to make it more convenient to comment during the seminar. This became a habit under B.V. Petrovsky, continues to this day. By the way, Boris Vasilyevich still participates in conferences almost every Friday at 8-30 am. Another thing is that we are now using the most advanced technical innovations. For example, the picture has become quite familiar - a video camera records the progress of the operation and transmits a clear color image to the monitor screen. Moreover, we now have the opportunity to transmit this very valuable visual information to the Internet. Let specialists around the world see how we operate. This is wonderful! Or this new product: using a color printer, any stage of the operation can be instantly reproduced. A color “picture” about the progress of the operation, pasted into the medical history, completely objectifies the treatment process. I believe that this kind of technical solutions is like a continuation of what B.V. started. Petrovsky.

Boris Vasilyevich was often very strict with us - his students. I remember such a case. I brought a new technology from America, but having used it, unfortunately, I lost the patient. Petrovsky was very categorical: “Professors come from Texas and prance on horses around the operating table.” As a doctor, I was then both bitter and offended to listen to the words of the director of the Center. Now, being in the director’s place, being responsible for the outcome of each operation to the patient and his family, I often remember this episode. Fortunately, the mortality rate during operations is steadily decreasing. And we are proud of it. The skill of surgeons is growing. Many of our doctors have their own know-how and international recognition. The basis for this is the traditions that B.V. laid. Petrovsky, the latest technologies that are being introduced at the Center, strict adherence to the Teacher’s principle of the highest responsibility of the surgeon, according to which any, even the simplest operation must be carefully justified and aimed at saving lives.

PERELMAN Mikhail Izrailevich (1924–2013)

Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, State Prize laureate, Director of the Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology MMA named after. Sechenov.

The first time I met Boris Vasilyevich was still a schoolboy, before the war, in Vitebsk. The meeting was accidental, but perhaps it predetermined my entire fate.

For the second time I was lucky enough to see B.V. Petrovsky after the war, when I became a certified doctor. It was in Moscow, in a hospital for war invalids, near the Baumanskaya metro station, where the oncology clinic is now located. At that time, I started working in Yaroslavl and often went to Moscow to watch how Moscow surgeons operated. In 1946, B.V. Petrovsky was still little known, but they told me that there was such a surgeon and advised me to see how he works. At that time, the development of cardiac surgery and esophageal surgery was underway. I underwent the very first successful operation - resection of the cardial part of the stomach and esophagus for cancer. Petrovsky did it under local anesthesia. The operation took a long time, we were even tired of watching. It was successful. After which Boris Vasilyevich invited us to talk, discuss, listen to our questions and comments.

In general, Boris Vasilyevich is extremely kind in terms of receiving guests. He greets, shows, gives tea, treats, and does it himself, without entrusting this to assistants, and this quality remained with him throughout his life. I would advise officials of any rank, especially today’s, to learn this from him.

Boris Vasilievich is an extremely efficient person. When we came to Pirogovka, he was performing 3-5 operations a day. It took a long time to get used to it here. He had enviable health and always worked hard. B.V. Petrovsky made a dizzying career. And he achieved everything himself. I could testify to this many times.

It is impossible to overestimate the contribution of B.V. Petrovsky in strengthening the authority of our healthcare. After the end of World War II, surgeons were the first among the USSR physicians to join the international scientific society. In 1953 B.V. Petrovsky led the renewal of our membership in the International Society of Surgeons at the congress in Lisbon. By 1955, the International Society of Surgeons already had 51 full members, 10 junior members and 5 honorary members from the USSR. In 1962 B.V. Petrovsky was elected vice-president of the European Society of Cardiovascular Surgeons.

On September 25, 1963, before the death of the Chairman of the Board of the All-Union Society of Surgeons P.A. Kupriyanov, the VIIth plenum of the board of the company was convened, at which B.V. was elected as the new chairman. Petrovsky. The Plenum heard and discussed the report of B.V. Petrovsky “Scientific research on surgery in the future”, as well as issues of holding the next XXVIII All-Union Congress of Surgeons. This congress, held in May 1965 in Moscow under the chairmanship of B.V. Petrovsky, was held on a fundamentally new basis. Policy reports and issues to be discussed were published in advance, and the number of reports included in the agenda was significantly reduced. All this made it possible to hold an active and businesslike discussion at the congress about the state of specialized surgical care, the problem of purulent surgical infection, cholecystopancreatitis, thrombosis and embolism in surgery and traumatology. After this congress, the authority of B.V. Petrovsky among surgeons has increased sharply. He was re-elected chairman of the board of the All-Union Society of Surgeons and then was elected to this honorary post for more than a quarter of a century - until the collapse of the USSR. Meetings of the Presidium of the All-Union Society of Surgeons have never been disrupted or postponed. They usually lasted about 2 hours. B.V. Petrovsky treated them as a sacred duty and, looking at his watch, started them exactly on time.

It was much more difficult with Boris Vasilyevich during trips to other cities for conferences and congresses. The program was always extremely busy and scheduled from early morning until late evening by the hour and minute: scientific sessions, discussions of various materials and documents, visits to medical institutions, meetings with doctors, visits to the city administration, official lunches and informal dinners. By the way, nothing could bring Boris Vasilyevich out of a highly efficient state, and everyone could only envy his health, endurance and organization.

I would especially like to note the Congress of the International Society of Surgeons, which took place in August 1971 in Moscow, and the meeting of the International Federation of Surgical Colleges, the organization of which was undertaken by B.V. Petrovsky. The Moscow Congress was the most representative in the history of the International Society of Surgeons. Surgeons from 61 countries took part in it. There were over 1,500 foreign delegates, and over 2,000 from the USSR. The closing ceremony took place in the Kremlin. In addition to the official scientific program, a “Day of Soviet Surgery” was held, which was a success and, in fact, changed the opinion of many foreign colleagues about the state of surgical science and practice in the Soviet Union. Name and portrait of honorary member of the International Society of Surgeons B.V. Petrovsky take a worthy place among 34 surgeons in the world who have been awarded the honor of being presidents at the congresses of this society since 1905.

SHUMAKOV Valery Ivanovich ((1931–2008)

Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of State Prizes, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, director of the Research Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

In April last year, together with the famous American surgeon M. DeBakey, I was awarded the title of laureate and awarded the gold medal of Academician Boris Petrovsky for outstanding achievements in world surgery. This award in itself is very honorable, but for me it is doubly valuable, since it is dedicated to my Teacher and is an undoubted recognition by the international surgical community of his outstanding role in world surgery. Forty years ago I came to the clinic of Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky after graduating from the First Medical Institute and postgraduate studies at the department of topographic anatomy and operative surgery. Having started working under his leadership, I felt that he was a person who unmistakably recognized new paths and directions in surgical science, supported them and sought to implement them in the clinic he led. He delighted everyone who worked with him with his amazing surgical technique. Moreover, as we professionals say, he has a “light hand,” or in other words, he is a surgeon from God.

Under his leadership, we introduced open-heart surgery, first with hypothermia and then with heart-lung machines. A period has come when artificial heart valves began to be introduced into clinical practice abroad, mainly in the USA. In the USSR, attempts were made to perform operations using domestic valve prostheses, but they were inferior in quality to foreign ones. Boris Vasilyevich suggested meeting with specialists and technicians working in the nuclear industry, headed by B.P. Zverev, who enthusiastically accepted the idea of ​​​​creating high-quality domestic artificial heart valves. The first operations using these valves were successfully performed by Petrovsky and his colleagues in 1963.

At that time, work on the creation of artificial heart devices and circulatory support began to appear more and more often in the international literature. This new direction in cardiac surgery seemed promising and interesting to me. With the idea of ​​creating an experimental laboratory that would develop such methods and apparatus and apply them to animals, I went to B.V. Petrovsky. The result of our discussions was that the artificial heart and circulatory support laboratory began to function. Boris Vasilyevich put me in charge of the laboratory. Then no one could foresee that in the future an intergovernmental agreement between our country and the United States would be signed on issues related to the artificial heart and assisted circulation, which was prepared and signed by B.V. Petrovsky, and that this cooperation, as recognized by American scientists themselves, will develop fruitfully for more than 20 years. After many years of persistent research in this laboratory, which in 1974 was transferred to the Research Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, an artificial heart and artificial ventricles of the heart were created, which are successfully used in practice.

In 1965, Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky performed the first successful kidney transplant in our country; such operations were performed on the basis of the vascular department. In 1969, this department was entrusted to me. With the light hand of the Teacher, I began to study transplantology.

But all these years I feel that Boris Vasilyevich is watching my work, I often consult with him and always admire the wisdom of his decisions.

MAIN DATES OF LIFE AND ACTIVITY
ACADEMICS B.V. PETROVSKY

Studied at a second level school (Kislovodsk).

Orderly, technical secretary of the Medsantrud union (Kislovodsk).

Joined the Komsomol.

Student, Faculty of Medicine, Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov (MSU).

Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University.

Resident of the surgical department of a district hospital, head of the health center of the Gosshveymashina plant (Podolsk, Moscow region).

Junior doctor of a tank brigade regiment and hospital doctor (Naro-Fominsk, Moscow region).

Resident, assistant, since 1938, senior researcher at the Moscow Oncology Institute and the General Surgery Clinic at the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University.

He defended his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Medical Sciences on the topic “Drip transfusion of blood and blood-substituting solutions in an oncology clinic.”

1939–1940

Deputy head of a field hospital, leading surgeon in the army on the Karelian front.

1940–1941

Senior researcher at the Moscow Oncology Institute.

Associate Professor, Department of General Surgery, 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after. P.I. Pirogov.

1941–1944

Leading hospital surgeon in the active army on the Western, Bryansk and 2nd Baltic fronts.

Joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree.

1944–1945

Senior Lecturer, Department of Faculty Surgery, Military Medical Academy named after. CM. Kirov (Leningrad).

Awarded the medal “For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”

1945–1948

Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs of the Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

He performed the first successful operation in the USSR for esophageal cancer - a one-stage resection of the esophagus with esophageal-gastric anastomosis.

He defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences on the topic “Gunshot wounds of large blood vessels in front-line conditions.”

Sent to France for scientific purposes.

Sent to Poland to familiarize himself with the work of medical institutions.

Awarded the anniversary medal “In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow.”

1948–1949

Professor of the Department of General Surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after. N.I. Pirogova.

1949–1951

Director of the Department of Hospital Surgery, Head of the 3rd Surgical Clinic of the University of Budapest.

He was awarded the Order of Merit by the Hungarian government.

Sent to France to the XIV Congress of the International Society of Surgeons, made a presentation.

1951–1956

Head of the Department of Faculty Surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after. N.I. Pirogov.

Sent to Poland for the Congress of Polish Surgeons, made a presentation.

Elected corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

Sent to Portugal for the XV Congress of the International Society of Surgeons, made a presentation.

1953–1965

Chief Surgeon of the 4th Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health.

Editor, since 1966, member of the editorial board of the journal "Surgery".

Sent to Czechoslovakia to conduct a number of operations.

Seconded to the USA for the II International Congress of Cardiologists.

Sent to Hungary to participate in the work of the Hungarian Surgical Society.

Sent to Denmark, Norway and Sweden for the XVI Congress of the International Society of Surgeons and to familiarize himself with the work of surgical clinics.

Deputy Chairman, since 1965 Chairman of the All-Union Scientific Society of Surgeons.

Head of the Department of Hospital Surgery and Director of the Hospital Surgical Clinic of the Medical Faculty of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute named after. THEM. Sechenov.

Elected full member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

Awarded the honorary title of Honored Scientist of the RSFSR and the Azerbaijan SSR.

He developed and successfully performed an original operation for relaxation of the diaphragm.

Sent to Czechoslovakia to perform a number of operations and speak at the Surgical Society.

Sent to Romania to familiarize himself with the work of surgical clinics.

Sent to Mexico for the XVII Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Sent to Albania to perform a number of operations and become familiar with the work of surgical clinics.

Sent to Hungary for the Congress of Hungarian Surgeons.

Sent to Poland for the Congress of Polish Surgeons.

Sent to Germany for the XVIII Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Awarded the Lenin Prize for the development of new operations on the heart and large blood vessels.

Sent to Bulgaria to participate in the work of the Surgical Society of Bulgaria, made a report.

Sent to Italy to familiarize himself with the work of surgical clinics.

Delegate to the XXII Congress of the CPSU.

Awarded the Order of Lenin for great services in the field of protecting the health of the Soviet people and the development of medical science.

Sent to the GDR to participate in the work of the Society of Surgeons of the GDR.

Sent to Czechoslovakia for a congress of surgeons.

Sent to Japan at the invitation of the Japan-USSR Friendship Society to read reports.

1962–1984

Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Elected an honorary member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.

Elected an honorary member of the Medical Society. J. Purkinje (Czechoslovakia).

Sent to India at the invitation of the India-USSR Friendship Society to read reports. Heart surgery was performed in Delhi.

Sent to Italy for the XX Congress of the International Society of Surgeons and the VI International Cardiovascular Congress.

Director of the All-Union Scientific Center for Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

Performed the first successful operation of mitral heart valve replacement with mechanical (sutureless) fixation.

Elected honorary member of the Polish Surgical Society.

Elected honorary doctor of the University of Krakow.

Sent to Austria for the Congress of International Colleges of Surgeons.

Sent to Poland to familiarize himself with the work of clinics.

For the first time in the USSR, he successfully performed a human kidney transplant.

Awarded the Order of Lenin for great merits in personnel training, development of medical science and in connection with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute. THEM. Sechenov.

Elected honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Sent to India at the invitation of the India-USSR Friendship Society to give lectures.

Seconded to the USA for the XXI Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Sent to the GDR to familiarize himself with the country's healthcare.

1965–1980

Minister of Health of the USSR.

Elected full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Delegate to the XXIII Congress of the CPSU. Elected as a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Elected member of the German Academy of Naturalists "Leopoldina".

Elected honorary member of the Italian Surgical Society.

Seconded to Switzerland to participate in the General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Member of the Presidium, since 1980, honorary member of the International Society of Surgeons.

Vice-President of the European Society of Cardiovascular Surgery.

Elected honorary member of the Paris Academy of Surgery.

Sent to England for scientific purposes.

Sent to Austria for the XXII Congress of the International Society of Surgeons, made a presentation.

Editor-in-Chief of the third edition of the Great Medical Encyclopedia.

Awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal for great services in the development of Soviet medical science and healthcare, training of scientific personnel and in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of his birth.

Elected foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Sent to Poland to consider issues of cooperation in the field of healthcare.

Sent to Argentina for the XXIII Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Elected President of the XXIV International Congress of Surgeons.

Sent to Cuba to consider issues of cooperation with the Cuban Ministry of Health.

Awarded the anniversary medal “For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin."

He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor by the Government of Hungary.

Delegate to the XXIV Congress of the CPSU. Elected as a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Awarded the USSR State Prize for the development and implementation of kidney transplantation into clinical practice.

Awarded the Order of the October Revolution.

President of the XXIV Congress of the International Society of Surgeons (Moscow).

Elected foreign member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was awarded the gold medal “For services to science and humanity” by the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Elected honorary doctor of Charles (Prague) University.

Elected honorary member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences.

Elected an honorary member of the German Society of Surgeons (FRG).

Elected an honorary member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

The Government of the People's Republic of Poland awarded him the Commander's Cross with the star of the Order of Merit.

He was awarded the Friendship medal by the Great People's Khural of the Mongolian People's Republic.

Sent to Mongolia for a meeting of health ministers of socialist countries.

Sent to England to familiarize himself with the country's healthcare.

Seconded to Switzerland to participate in the WHO General Assembly.

Sent to the USA to familiarize himself with the country’s healthcare and to detail the ways and methods of implementing the Agreement between the Government of the USSR and the Government of the USA on cooperation in the field of medical science of May 23, 1972.

Elected member of the Committee of the International Society of Surgeons.

Elected honorary member of the Swedish Surgical Society.

Elected foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Elected honorary member of the American College of Surgeons.

Seconded to the USA to discuss the implementation of the Agreement between the government of the USSR and the US government on cooperation in the field of medical science and healthcare, as well as to develop a specific program for the implementation of the Agreement between the USSR and the USA “On cooperation in the field of scientific research and development of an artificial heart”

Elected an honorary member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Scotland.

Sent to the GDR for the Meeting of Ministers of Health of Socialist Countries.

Sent to England for the XXVI Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

The World Health Organization awarded the Léon Bernard International Prize.

Delegate to the XXV Congress of the CPSU. Elected as a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Member of the Bureau of the Commission on the Scientific Foundations of Medicine under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Sent to France to sign an agreement on cooperation in the field of healthcare.

Sent to Afghanistan to open a hospital built in Kabul by the Soviet Union.

Awarded the honorary medal “Excellent Teacher of the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies” (Hungary).

Sent to Czechoslovakia for the Meeting of Ministers of Health of Socialist Countries.

Seconded to the DPRK to sign an agreement on cooperation in the field of healthcare.

Seconded to Italy to consider issues of cooperation in the field of healthcare.

Elected honorary doctor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Naples.

Awarded the Order of Lenin for services to the development of healthcare and medical science and in connection with his seventieth birthday.

Elected President of the WHO World Conference on the exchange of experience, organization of primary health care for urban and rural populations (Alma-Ata).

Sent to Poland for the Meeting of Ministers of Health of Socialist Countries.

Chairman of the Scientific Surgical Council under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

Sent to Bulgaria for the Meeting of Ministers of Health of Socialist Countries.

Seconded to the USA for the XXVIII Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Elected honorary member of the International Society of Surgeons.

Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Budapest. L. Eotvos.

Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Berlin. V. Humboldt.

Awarded an honorary doctorate from Ulaanbaatar University. X. Choibalsan.

Awarded an honorary doctorate from the Bratislava University. J. Komensky.

He was awarded the Order of Friendship by the Government of Czechoslovakia.

Sent to Cuba to sign an agreement on the development of cooperation in the field of healthcare.

Seconded to Switzerland to participate in the WHO General Assembly. He made a statement on behalf of the European region on the complete eradication of smallpox from the planet.

Sent to Romania for a meeting of health ministers of socialist countries.

Sent to Czechoslovakia to sign an agreement on the development of cooperation in the field of healthcare.

Sent to Switzerland for the XXIX Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Sent to Czechoslovakia to jointly develop the problem of an artificial heart.

Seconded to the Panhellenic Congress of Surgeons (Nicosia).

Sent to Germany for the XXX Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Sent to Bulgaria at the head of the delegation of Soviet surgeons to the VII National Congress of Surgeons of the People's Republic of Belarus.

Sent to the GDR at the head of a delegation of Soviet surgeons to the XV Congress of the Society of Surgeons of the GDR.

Seconded to Greece as an honorary co-chairman at the Congress of the International Union of Angiologists.

Sent to France at the head of a delegation of Soviet surgeons to the XXXI Congress of the International Society of Surgeons.

Awarded the Polish "Commander's Order of Merit".

Elected honorary doctor of the University of Tartu (Estonia).

Visited China at the invitation of the President of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Elected an honorary member of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples in connection with his 85th anniversary.

Elected Honorary Member of the Russian Medical Association.

Elected Honorary Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Medical Sciences; the book “Man, Medicine, Life” was published (M., “Nauka”, 1995); elected Chairman of the XVII Pirogov Congress of Doctors (Moscow, June 3-5); gave an Activity speech “Medical ethics in the past, present and future” at the first Activity Day of the Scientific Center for Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.

Elected Honorary Doctor and Honorary Member of the Academic Council of the Russian Military Medical Academy; elected honorary professor of St. Petersburg Medical University. I.P. Pavlova.

Was awarded a personal prize named after. N.I. Pirogov of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences for a set of works on the facsimile reprint of the atlas of N.I. Pirogov "Ice Anatomy".

Academic degree: Doctor of Medical Sciences Academic title: Professor
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Profession: doctor Military service Years of service: - Affiliation: USSR USSR Type of army: medicine Rank:

: Incorrect or missing image

Battles: The Great Patriotic War Scientific activity Scientific field: surgery Place of work: Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov;
Military Medical Academy named after S. M. Kirov;
First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov Known as: Honorary Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Russian Scientific Center for Surgery named after Academician B.V. Petrovsky" of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Awards:

Boris Vasilievich Petrovsky (June 14 (27) ( 19080627 ) , Essentuki, Terek region, Russian Empire - May 4, Moscow, Russian Federation) - a major Soviet and Russian surgeon, scientist and clinician; health care organizer and social activist. Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor. Minister of Health of the USSR (- years), director of the All-Union Scientific Center for Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (). Hero of Socialist Labor (). Laureate of the Lenin Prize () and the USSR State Prize ().

Biography

In 1916-1924 he studied at a 2nd level school in the city of Kislovodsk. After graduating from school, he went to work as a disinfectant at the disinfection station of Kislovodsk. Here he completed courses in accounting, shorthand, and sanitary courses and began working as a delivery boy in the branch of the Medsantrud trade union, while at the same time intensively preparing to enter the university. In 1930 he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. According to Petrovsky himself, his years of studying at the university strengthened his interest in surgery and showed the need for versatile and in-depth training, first of all as a doctor, and then as a “narrow” specialist. Understanding well that one can become a surgeon only by being a versatile and fundamentally trained doctor, Petrovsky thoroughly studied clinical disciplines, physiology, spent many hours in the anatomical theater, mastering and improving surgical technique, was on duty in the clinic a lot and attended rounds of senior colleagues, performed the first independent operations. After finishing his studies at the university, he worked as a surgeon for about a year and a half in the regional hospital of the city of Podolsk, Moscow region.

A large cycle of research, intensively continued in the post-war years, was formulated by Petrovsky into a doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 1947 (the topic “Surgical treatment of gunshot wounds of blood vessels in front-line conditions”). In 1949, the dissertation was published as a monograph (“Surgical treatment of vascular wounds”).

Lived in Moscow. He died on May 4, 2004, at the age of 96. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, where his grave rises above him.

Memory

• B.V. Petrovsky published over 500 scientific works, including about 40 monographs. He created one of the largest scientific surgical schools (more than 150 doctors of science, of which more than 70 are heads of clinics and large hospitals).
• In 2011, a Russian postage stamp dedicated to Petrovsky was issued.

Merits

Awards

• Hero of Socialist Labor (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 26, 1968, Order of Lenin and Hammer and Sickle Medal) - for great services in the development of Soviet medical science and healthcare, training of scientific personnel and in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of his birth
• Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (June 4, 2003) - for outstanding achievements in the field of health and medical science
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (May 28, 1998) - for outstanding contribution to the development of medical science and training of highly qualified personnel
• Order of Lenin (1961) - for great services in the field of protecting the health of the Soviet people and the development of medical science
• Order of Lenin (1965) - for great services in training, development of medical science and in connection with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute. I. M. Sechenov.
• Order of Lenin (1978) - for services to the development of healthcare and medical science and in connection with his seventieth birthday
• Order of the October Revolution (1971)
• two Orders of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree
  • first - April 29, 1943 - for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the valor and courage shown at the same time
  • second - April 6, 1985 - for the courage, perseverance and courage shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, and in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (24 June 1988)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (May 27, 1993) - for his great contribution to the development of domestic surgery and the training of highly qualified specialists for public health care
• Order of the Red Star (May 26, 1942) - for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time
• Medal "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1945)
• Medal “In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow” (1948)
• Medal “For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970)
• Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1957)
• Honored Scientist of the Azerbaijan SSR (1957)
• medals

Foreign awards and titles:

• Order of the Banner (Hungary) (1970)
• Medal "Friendship", Mongolian People's Republic (1972)
• Medal "Excellent teacher of the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies", Hungary (1977)
• Order of Friendship (Czechoslovakia) (1979)
• Commander with star ()
• Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1985)
• Order of Merit, Hungary (1951)
• other orders and medals

Awards

• Lenin Prize () - for work on surgery of the heart and blood vessels
• USSR State Prize () - for work on kidney transplantation
• Prize named after N. N. Burdenko of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences () - for a monograph on the treatment of esophageal cancer
• International Leon Bernard Prize of the World Health Organization () - for the development of public health

Ranks

• Member of 34 international societies, associations, academies and colleges, as well as an honorary member of 14 foreign surgical societies.
• Honorary citizen of the city of Kislovodsk.

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Predecessor: Sergey Vladimirovich Kurashov

Minister of Health of the USSR September - December 1980

Successor: Sergei Petrovich Burenkov

An excerpt characterizing Petrovsky, Boris Vasilievich

In the hut, past which the soldiers passed, the highest authorities had gathered, and over tea there was a lively conversation about the past day and the proposed maneuvers of the future. It was supposed to make a flank march to the left, cut off the viceroy and capture him.
When the soldiers brought the fence, kitchen fires were already flaring up from different sides. Firewood crackled, snow melted, and the black shadows of soldiers scurried back and forth throughout the occupied space trampled in the snow.
Axes and cutlasses worked from all sides. Everything was done without any orders. They hauled firewood for the night's reserves, erected huts for the authorities, boiled pots, and stored guns and ammunition.
The fence dragged by the eighth company was placed in a semicircle on the north side, supported by bipods, and a fire was laid out in front of it. We broke the dawn, made calculations, had dinner and settled down for the night by the fires - some mending shoes, some smoking a pipe, some stripped naked, steaming out lice.

It would seem that in those almost unimaginably difficult conditions of existence in which Russian soldiers found themselves at that time - without warm boots, without sheepskin coats, without a roof over their heads, in the snow at 18° below zero, without even the full amount of provisions, it would not always be possible to keeping up with the army - it seemed that the soldiers should have presented the saddest and most depressing sight.
On the contrary, never, in the best material conditions, has the army presented a more cheerful, lively spectacle. This happened because every day everything that began to despondency or weaken was thrown out of the army. Everything that was physically and morally weak had long been left behind: only one color of the army remained - in terms of strength of spirit and body.
The largest number of people gathered at the 8th company, which bordered the fence. Two sergeants sat down next to them, and their fire burned brighter than others. They demanded an offering of firewood for the right to sit under the fence.
- Hey, Makeev, what are you... disappeared or were you eaten by wolves? “Bring some wood,” shouted one red-haired soldier, squinting and blinking from the smoke, but not moving away from the fire. “Go ahead and carry some wood, crow,” this soldier turned to another. Red was not a non-commissioned officer or a corporal, but he was a healthy soldier, and therefore commanded those who were weaker than him. A thin, small soldier with a sharp nose, who was called a crow, obediently stood up and went to carry out the order, but at that time the thin, beautiful figure of a young soldier carrying a load of firewood entered the light of the fire.
- Come here. That's important!
They broke the firewood, pressed it, blew it with their mouths and overcoat skirts, and the flames hissed and crackled. The soldiers moved closer and lit their pipes. The young, handsome soldier who had brought the firewood leaned his hands on his hips and began to quickly and deftly stamp his chilled feet in place.
“Ah, mamma, the cold dew is good, and like a musketeer...” he chanted, as if hiccupping on every syllable of the song.
- Hey, the soles will fly off! – the red-haired man shouted, noticing that the dancer’s sole was dangling. - What poison to dance!
The dancer stopped, tore off the dangling skin and threw it into the fire.
“And that, brother,” he said; and, sitting down, took a piece of French blue cloth from his knapsack and began to wrap it around his leg. “We’ve had a couple of hours,” he added, stretching his legs towards the fire.
- New ones will be released soon. They say, we'll beat you to the last ounce, then everyone will get double goods.
“And you see, son of a bitch Petrov, he’s fallen behind,” said the sergeant major.
“I’ve noticed him for a long time,” said another.
- Yes, little soldier...
“And in the third company, they said, nine people were missing yesterday.”
- Yes, judge how your feet ache, where will you go?
- Eh, this is empty talk! - said the sergeant major.
“Ali, do you want the same thing?” - said the old soldier, reproachfully turning to the one who said that his legs were chilling.
– What do you think? - suddenly rising from behind the fire, a sharp-nosed soldier, who was called a crow, spoke in a squeaky and trembling voice. - He who is smooth will lose weight, but the skinny will die. At least I would. “I have no urine,” he suddenly said decisively, turning to the sergeant major, “they told me to send him to the hospital, the pain has overcome me; otherwise you will still fall behind...
“Well, yes, yes,” the sergeant major said calmly. The soldier fell silent and the conversation continued.
“Today you never know how many of these Frenchmen they took; and, to put it bluntly, none of them are wearing real boots, just a name,” one of the soldiers began a new conversation.
- All the Cossacks struck. They cleaned the hut for the colonel and took them out. It’s a pity to watch, guys,” said the dancer. - They tore them apart: so the living one, believe it, babbles something in his own way.
“They’re pure people, guys,” said the first. - White, just like a birch is white, and there are brave ones, say, noble ones.
- How do you think? He has recruited from all ranks.
“But they don’t know anything our way,” the dancer said with a smile of bewilderment. “I say to him: “Whose crown?”, and he babbles his own. Wonderful people!
“It’s strange, my brothers,” continued the one who was amazed at their whiteness, “the men near Mozhaisk said how they began to remove the beaten, where the guards were, so after all, he says, theirs lay dead for almost a month.” Well, he says, it lies there, he says, theirs is how the paper is white, clean, and doesn’t smell of gunpowder.
- Well, from the cold, or what? - one asked.
- You're so smart! By cold! It was hot. If only for the cold, ours wouldn’t have gone rotten either. Otherwise, he says, when you come up to ours, he’s all rotten with worms, he says. So, he says, we’ll tie ourselves with scarves, and, turning our muzzle away, we’ll drag him; no urine. And theirs, he says, is as white as paper; There is no smell of gunpowder.
Everyone was silent.
“It must be from the food,” said the sergeant major, “they ate the master’s food.”
Nobody objected.
“This man said, near Mozhaisk, where there was a guard, they were driven away from ten villages, they carried them twenty days, they didn’t bring them all, they were dead. What are these wolves, he says...
“That guard was real,” said the old soldier. - There was only something to remember; and then everything after that... So, it’s just torment for the people.
- And that, uncle. The day before yesterday we came running, so where they won’t let us get to them. They quickly abandoned the guns. On your knees. Sorry, he says. So, just one example. They said that Platov took Polion himself twice. Doesn't know the words. He’ll take it: he’ll pretend to be a bird in his hands, fly away, and fly away. And there is no provision for killing either.
“It’s okay to lie, Kiselev, I’ll look at you.”
- What a lie, the truth is true.
“If it were my custom, I would have caught him and buried him in the ground.” Yes, with an aspen stake. And what he ruined for the people.
“We’ll do it all, he won’t walk,” said the old soldier, yawning.
The conversation fell silent, the soldiers began to pack up.
- See, the stars, passion, are burning! “Tell me, the women have laid out the canvases,” said the soldier, admiring the Milky Way.
- This, guys, is for a good year.
“We’ll still need some wood.”
“You’ll warm your back, but your belly is frozen.” What a miracle.
- Oh my God!
- Why are you pushing, is the fire about you alone, or what? See... it fell apart.
From behind the established silence, the snoring of some who had fallen asleep was heard; the rest turned and warmed themselves, occasionally talking to each other. A friendly, cheerful laugh was heard from the distant fire, about a hundred paces away.
“Look, they’re roaring in the fifth company,” said one soldier. – And what a passion for the people!
One soldier got up and went to the fifth company.
“It’s laughter,” he said, returning. - Two guards have arrived. One is completely frozen, and the other is so courageous, dammit! Songs are playing.
- Oh oh? go have a look... - Several soldiers headed towards the fifth company.

The fifth company stood near the forest itself. A huge fire burned brightly in the middle of the snow, illuminating the tree branches weighed down with frost.
In the middle of the night, soldiers of the fifth company heard footsteps in the snow and the crunching of branches in the forest.
“Guys, it’s a witch,” said one soldier. Everyone raised their heads, listened, and out of the forest, into the bright light of the fire, two strangely dressed human figures stepped out, holding each other.
These were two Frenchmen hiding in the forest. Hoarsely saying something in a language incomprehensible to the soldiers, they approached the fire. One was taller, wearing an officer's hat, and seemed completely weakened. Approaching the fire, he wanted to sit down, but fell to the ground. The other, small, stocky soldier with a scarf tied around his cheeks, was stronger. He raised his comrade and, pointing to his mouth, said something. The soldiers surrounded the French, laid out an overcoat for the sick man, and brought porridge and vodka to both of them.
The weakened French officer was Rambal; tied with a scarf was his orderly Morel.
When Morel drank vodka and finished a pot of porridge, he suddenly became painfully cheerful and began to continuously say something to the soldiers who did not understand him. Rambal refused to eat and silently lay on his elbow by the fire, looking at the Russian soldiers with meaningless red eyes. Occasionally he would let out a long groan and then fall silent again. Morel, pointing to his shoulders, convinced the soldiers that it was an officer and that he needed to be warmed up. The Russian officer, who approached the fire, sent to ask the colonel if he would take the French officer to warm him up; and when they returned and said that the colonel had ordered an officer to be brought, Rambal was told to go. He stood up and wanted to walk, but he staggered and would have fallen if the soldier standing next to him had not supported him.
- What? You will not? – one soldier said with a mocking wink, turning to Rambal.
- Eh, fool! Why are you lying awkwardly! It’s a man, really, a man,” reproaches to the joking soldier were heard from different sides. They surrounded Rambal, lifted him into his arms, grabbed him, and carried him to the hut. Rambal hugged the necks of the soldiers and, when they carried him, spoke plaintively:
- Oh, nies braves, oh, mes bons, mes bons amis! Voila des hommes! oh, mes braves, mes bons amis! [Oh well done! O my good, good friends! Here are the people! O my good friends!] - and, like a child, he leaned his head on the shoulder of one soldier.
Meanwhile, Morel sat in the best place, surrounded by soldiers.
Morel, a small, stocky Frenchman, with bloodshot, watery eyes, tied with a woman's scarf over his cap, was dressed in a woman's fur coat. He, apparently drunk, put his arm around the soldier sitting next to him and sang a French song in a hoarse, intermittent voice. The soldiers held their sides, looking at him.
- Come on, come on, teach me how? I'll take over quickly. How?.. - said the joker songwriter, who was hugged by Morel.
Vive Henri Quatre,
Vive ce roi vaillanti –
[Long live Henry the Fourth!
Long live this brave king!
etc. (French song) ]
sang Morel, winking his eye.
Se diable a quatre…
- Vivarika! Vif seruvaru! sit-down... - the soldier repeated, waving his hand and really catching the tune.
- Look, clever! Go go go go!.. - rough, joyful laughter rose from different sides. Morel, wincing, laughed too.
- Well, go ahead, go ahead!
Qui eut le triple talent,
De boire, de battre,
Et d'etre un vert galant...
[Having triple talent,
drink, fight
and be kind...]
– But it’s also complicated. Well, well, Zaletaev!..
“Kyu...” Zaletaev said with effort. “Kyu yu yu...” he drawled, carefully protruding his lips, “letriptala, de bu de ba and detravagala,” he sang.
- Hey, it’s important! That's it, guardian! oh... go go go! - Well, do you want to eat more?
- Give him some porridge; After all, it won’t be long before he gets enough of hunger.
Again they gave him porridge; and Morel, chuckling, began to work on the third pot. Joyful smiles were on all the faces of the young soldiers looking at Morel. The old soldiers, who considered it indecent to engage in such trifles, lay on the other side of the fire, but occasionally, raising themselves on their elbows, they looked at Morel with a smile.
“People too,” said one of them, dodging into his overcoat. - And wormwood grows on its root.
- Ooh! Lord, Lord! How stellar, passion! Towards the frost... - And everything fell silent.
The stars, as if knowing that now no one would see them, played out in the black sky. Now flaring up, now extinguishing, now shuddering, they busily whispered among themselves about something joyful, but mysterious.

X
The French troops gradually melted away in a mathematically correct progression. And that crossing of the Berezina, about which so much has been written, was only one of the intermediate stages in the destruction of the French army, and not at all a decisive episode of the campaign. If so much has been and is being written about the Berezina, then on the part of the French this happened only because on the broken Berezina Bridge, the disasters that the French army had previously suffered evenly here suddenly grouped together at one moment and into one tragic spectacle that remained in everyone’s memory. On the Russian side, they talked and wrote so much about the Berezina only because, far from the theater of war, in St. Petersburg, a plan was drawn up (by Pfuel) to capture Napoleon in a strategic trap on the Berezina River. Everyone was convinced that everything would actually happen exactly as planned, and therefore insisted that it was the Berezina crossing that destroyed the French. In essence, the results of the Berezinsky crossing were much less disastrous for the French in terms of the loss of guns and prisoners than Krasnoye, as the numbers show.
The only significance of the Berezina crossing is that this crossing obviously and undoubtedly proved the falsity of all plans for cutting off and the justice of the only possible course of action demanded by both Kutuzov and all the troops (mass) - only following the enemy. The crowd of Frenchmen fled with an ever-increasing force of speed, with all their energy directed towards achieving their goal. She ran like a wounded animal, and she could not get in the way. This was proven not so much by the construction of the crossing as by the traffic on the bridges. When the bridges were broken, unarmed soldiers, Moscow residents, women and children who were in the French convoy - all, under the influence of the force of inertia, did not give up, but ran forward into the boats, into the frozen water.
This aspiration was reasonable. The situation of both those fleeing and those pursuing was equally bad. Remaining with his own, each in distress hoped for the help of a comrade, for a certain place he occupied among his own. Having given himself over to the Russians, he was in the same position of distress, but he was on a lower level in terms of satisfying the needs of life. The French did not need to have correct information that half of the prisoners, with whom they did not know what to do, despite all the Russians’ desire to save them, died from cold and hunger; they felt that it could not be otherwise. The most compassionate Russian commanders and hunters of the French, the French in Russian service could not do anything for the prisoners. The French were destroyed by the disaster in which the Russian army was located. It was impossible to take away bread and clothing from hungry, necessary soldiers in order to give it to the French who were not harmful, not hated, not guilty, but simply unnecessary. Some did; but this was only an exception.
Behind was certain death; there was hope ahead. The ships were burned; there was no other salvation but a collective flight, and all the forces of the French were directed towards this collective flight.
The further the French fled, the more pitiful their remnants were, especially after the Berezina, on which, as a result of the St. Petersburg plan, special hopes were pinned, the more the passions of the Russian commanders flared up, blaming each other and especially Kutuzov. Believing that the failure of the Berezinsky Petersburg plan would be attributed to him, dissatisfaction with him, contempt for him and ridicule of him were expressed more and more strongly. Teasing and contempt, of course, were expressed in a respectful form, in a form in which Kutuzov could not even ask what and for what he was accused. They didn't talk to him seriously; reporting to him and asking his permission, they pretended to perform a sad ritual, and behind his back they winked and tried to deceive him at every step.
All these people, precisely because they could not understand him, recognized that there was no point in talking to the old man; that he would never understand the full depth of their plans; that he would answer with his phrases (it seemed to them that these were just phrases) about the golden bridge, that you cannot come abroad with a crowd of vagabonds, etc. They had already heard all this from him. And everything he said: for example, that we had to wait for food, that people were without boots, it was all so simple, and everything they offered was so complex and clever that it was obvious to them that he was stupid and old, but they were not powerful, brilliant commanders.
Especially after the joining of the armies of the brilliant admiral and the hero of St. Petersburg, Wittgenstein, this mood and staff gossip reached its highest limits. Kutuzov saw this and, sighing, just shrugged his shoulders. Only once, after the Berezina, he became angry and wrote the following letter to Bennigsen, who reported separately to the sovereign:
“Due to your painful seizures, please, Your Excellency, upon receipt of this, go to Kaluga, where you await further orders and assignments from His Imperial Majesty.”
But after Bennigsen was sent away, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich came to the army, making the beginning of the campaign and being removed from the army by Kutuzov. Now the Grand Duke, having arrived at the army, informed Kutuzov about the displeasure of the sovereign emperor for the weak successes of our troops and for the slowness of movement. The Emperor himself intended to arrive at the army the other day.
An old man, as experienced in court affairs as in military affairs, that Kutuzov, who in August of the same year was chosen commander-in-chief against the will of the sovereign, the one who removed the heir and the Grand Duke from the army, the one who, with his power, in opposition the will of the sovereign, ordered the abandonment of Moscow, this Kutuzov now immediately realized that his time was over, that his role had been played and that he no longer had this imaginary power. And he understood this not just from court relationships. On the one hand, he saw that military affairs, the one in which he played his role, was over, and he felt that his calling had been fulfilled. On the other hand, at the same time he began to feel physical fatigue in his old body and the need for physical rest.

Petrovsky Boris Vasilievich was born in 1908 in Essentuki. The boy’s father was a famous doctor, which confirms the fact that Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya was treated by him. Until 1924, Boris studied at a school in Kislovodsk, then got a job as a disinfectant. After completing sanitary courses, he worked in the Medsantrud trade union, preparing to enter Moscow.

In 1930, the young man completed his studies at the medical faculty of Lomonosov University. The years spent at the university only strengthened his interest in surgery, showing the need for versatile training as a doctor. Petrovsky purposefully studied physiology, spending hours in the anatomical theater, and clinical disciplines, improving his surgical technique. The novice doctor regularly attended his colleagues’ rounds and performed his first operations independently. After studying, he worked as a surgeon in one of the hospitals in Podolsk.

As an employee of the Moscow Oncological Institute, Boris Vasilyevich began scientific activities. Research abilities and surgical talent interacted well with each other - over several years of constant work, Petrovsky investigated the most important oncological issues, issues of shock and transfusiology. In 1937, the journal "Surgery" published his first scientific work on the treatment of breast cancer, and the surgeon himself defended his thesis on the topic of oncological practice, which was published in a revised form ten years later.

With the rank of associate professor, Petrovsky was present in the field hospital of the active army on the Karelian Isthmus during military events, acting as the leading surgeon, as well as the deputy head of the hospital. The Great Patriotic War threw Boris Vasilyevich into evacuation hospitals, where he performed a huge number of complex operations that saved many lives. Since 1944, the scientist tested ideas about blood transfusion and successfully used the injection of blood into the carotid artery and into the thoracic aorta.

In the post-war years, Petrovsky defended his doctoral dissertation, which was published in 1949 (“Surgical treatment of vascular wounds”). He taught at Pirogov University, in 1953 he became the chief surgeon in the administration of the USSR Ministry of Health, he was awarded the title “Honored Scientist”.

In 1963, Petrovsky became director of the All-Union Center for Surgery, to the founding of which he himself was directly involved. A year later, the brilliant surgeon successfully performed an operation to replace the mitral heart valve with sutureless fixation, and a year later he was the first in the Union to successfully transplant a kidney to a person. As a deputy of the Supreme Council, he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor in 1968.

For almost 16 years, Petrovsky headed the USSR Ministry of Health. All this time, Boris Vasilyevich took part in the implementation of the most important documents that were aimed at improving public health care. The range of activities of the leading surgeon was extremely wide. It was under Petrovsky that a constant exchange of experience in healthcare practice with European countries began, which was later joined by Canada, the USA and Japan.

In 2003, for colossal achievements in medical science and in the field of healthcare, Petrovsky was awarded the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called.

Born on June 14 (June 27, new style) 1908 in the city of Essentuki, Terek Region (now Stavropol Territory). The family lived in the village of Blagodarny, the administrative center of the Blagodarny district of the Stavropol province. Father - Vasily Ivanovich Petrovsky - worked as the chief doctor of the zemstvo hospital. In 1916, the family moved to Kislovodsk, where the father began working at the “Red Stones” rest house of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Here his patients were prominent political figures, among whom was Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya.

In 1916-1924 he studied at a 2nd level school in the city of Kislovodsk. After graduating from school, he went to work as a disinfectant at the disinfection station of Kislovodsk. Here he completed courses in accounting, shorthand, and sanitary courses and began working as a delivery boy in the branch of the Medsantrud trade union, while at the same time intensively preparing to enter the university.

In 1930 he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. According to Petrovsky himself, his years of studying at the university strengthened his interest in surgery and showed the need for versatile and in-depth training, first of all as a doctor, and then as a “narrow” specialist. Understanding well that one can become a surgeon only by being a versatile and fundamentally trained physician, Petrovsky thoroughly studied clinical disciplines, physiology, spent many hours in the anatomical theater, mastering and improving surgical technique, was on duty in the clinic a lot and attended rounds of senior colleagues, performed his first independent operations. After graduating from the university, he worked as a surgeon for about a year and a half in the district hospital of the city of Podolsk, Moscow region.

Since 1932, scientific activity began - as a researcher at the Moscow Oncology Institute (under the leadership of Professor P. A. Herzen) and the General Surgery Clinic at the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University. The abilities of a researcher and the talent of a surgeon found fertile ground - over several years of hard work, Petrovsky completed research on important issues in oncology (treatment of breast cancer), transfusiology (method of long-term massive transfusions and drip blood transfusions), as well as shock. His first scientific article, “On the assessment of long-term results of surgical treatment of breast cancer,” was published in 1937 in the journal “Surgery.”

In 1937, Petrovsky defended his dissertation for the academic degree of Candidate of Medical Sciences on the topic “Drip transfusion of blood and blood-substituting fluids in oncological practice.” In a revised form, it was published as a monograph in 1948. He retained his interest in blood transfusion in subsequent years, in particular, in the methods of introducing blood into the body and the effect of transfusions on body functions. In 1938 he was awarded the title of senior researcher (associate professor). In 1939-1940 he participated as a leading surgeon and deputy head of a field hospital of the active army in military events on the Karelian Isthmus.

Since 1941, Petrovsky has been an associate professor of the Department of General Surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after P. I. Pirogov. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the leading surgeon of evacuation hospitals in the active army (1941-1944). In 1944-1945, senior lecturer at the Department of Faculty Surgery at the S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy (Leningrad). During the war, he tested his ideas about blood transfusion methods, successfully using the injection of blood into the carotid artery and then directly into the thoracic aorta.

Having ended the war as an independent surgeon and researcher, Petrovsky began work in 1945 as deputy director for science at the Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

A large cycle of research, intensively continued in the post-war years, was formulated by Petrovsky into a doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 1947 (the topic “Surgical treatment of gunshot wounds of blood vessels in front-line conditions”). In 1949, the dissertation was published as a monograph (“Surgical treatment of vascular wounds”).

In 1948-1949, professor of the department of general surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after N.I. Pirogov, in 1949-1951, director of the department of hospital surgery and head of the 3rd surgical clinic of the University of Budapest, in 1951-1956, head of the department of faculty surgery 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after N.I. Pirogov. In 1953-1965, chief surgeon of the 4th Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health.

In 1956, he was awarded the honorary titles “Honored Worker of Science of the RSFSR” and “Honored Worker of Science of the Azerbaijan SSR.” In 1957 he was elected a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (from 1991 - RAMS), in 1966 - the Academy of Sciences (AS) of the USSR (from 1991 - RAS).

Since 1956, head of the department of hospital surgery of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute named after I.M. Sechenov and at the same time (since 1963) director of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery.

Organizer (1963) and director (1963-1988) of the All-Union Scientific Center for Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Since 1989 - Honorary Director of this Center.

In 1964, he performed the first successful operation of mitral valve replacement with mechanical (sutureless) fixation, and in 1965, for the first time in the USSR, he successfully performed a human kidney transplant.

From September 1965 to December 1980, he headed the USSR Ministry of Health. For almost 16 years of work as minister, he was directly involved in the development and implementation of all the most important documents aimed at improving public health care. The range of his activities was extremely wide, given the tasks facing the health authorities. This is to ensure high quality medical care, the effectiveness of preventive measures that help improve health and active longevity; providing the population with all types of specialized assistance; creation of large multidisciplinary and specialized treatment and preventive institutions equipped with modern technology and staffed with highly qualified specialists; expanding the functions and rights of sanitary supervision, especially in the field of sanitary protection of environmental objects; bringing together the levels of medical care for urban and rural populations; further improvement of the health of women and children and workers of industrial enterprises. Cooperation with other countries received significant development during the leadership of the Ministry of Health. There was a systematic exchange of experience in the field of science and health care practice with France, Finland, the USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Japan and other countries on the basis of concluded intergovernmental agreements and protocols.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 26, 1968, for great services in the development of Soviet medical science and healthcare, training of scientific personnel and in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of his birth, Boris Vasilievich Petrovsky was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the gold medal “Sickle and Hammer".

Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1942. Delegate to the 22-24th Congress of the CPSU; At the 23rd and 24th congresses he was elected as a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1962-1984).

Memory

• B.V. Petrovsky published over 500 scientific works, including about 40 monographs. He created one of the largest scientific surgical schools (more than 150 doctors of science, of which more than 70 are heads of clinics and large hospitals).
• In 2011, a Russian postage stamp dedicated to Petrovsky was issued.

Merits

Awards

• Hero of Socialist Labor (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 26, 1968, Order of Lenin and Hammer and Sickle Medal) - for great services in the development of Soviet medical science and healthcare, training of scientific personnel and in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of his birth
• Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (June 4, 2003) - for outstanding achievements in the field of health care and medical science
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (May 28, 1998) - for outstanding contribution to the development of medical science and the training of highly qualified personnel
• Order of Lenin (1961) - for great services in the field of protecting the health of the Soviet people and the development of medical science
• Order of Lenin (1965) - for great merits in personnel training, development of medical science and in connection with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute. I. M. Sechenov.
• Order of Lenin (1978) - for services to the development of healthcare and medical science and in connection with the seventieth anniversary of his birth
• Order of the October Revolution (1971)
• two Orders of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree
  • the first - April 29, 1943 - for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the valor and courage shown at the same time
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (May 27, 1993) - for his great contribution to the development of domestic surgery and the training of highly qualified specialists for public health
• Order of the Red Star (May 26, 1942) - for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time
• Medal "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1945)
• Medal “In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow” (1948)
• Medal “For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970)
• Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1957)
• Honored Scientist of the Azerbaijan SSR (1957)
• medals

Foreign awards and titles:

• Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Hungary (1970)
• Medal "Friendship", Mongolian People's Republic (1972)
• Medal "Excellent teacher of the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies", Hungary (1977)
• Order of Friendship, Czechoslovakia (1979)
• Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1985)
• Order of Merit, Hungary (1951)
• other orders and medals

Awards

• Lenin Prize (1960) - for work on surgery of the heart and blood vessels
• USSR State Prize (1971) - for work on kidney transplantation
• Prize named after N. N. Burdenko of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1953) - for a monograph on the treatment of esophageal cancer
• International Leon Bernard Prize of the World Health Organization (1975) - for the development of public health

Ranks

• Member of 34 international societies, associations, academies and colleges, as well as an honorary member of 14 foreign surgical societies.
• Honorary citizen of the city of Kislovodsk.

Russian postage stamp, 2011
6th Minister of Health of the USSR September 8, 1965 - December 12, 1980
Head of the government	Alexey Kosygin; Nikolay Tikhonov
Predecessor	Sergey Kurashov
Successor	Sergey Burenkov
Birth	June 14 (27)
Death	May 4th(2004-05-04 ) (95 years old) Moscow, Russia
Burial place	Novodevichy Cemetery
Father	Vasily Ivanovich Petrovsky
The consignment	CPSU
Education	Moscow State University (1930)
Academic degree	Doctor of Medical Sciences
Academic title	Professor Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences
Profession	doctor
Activity	surgery
Awards
Military service
Years of service	1941-1945
Affiliation	USSR USSR
Type of army
Rank
Battles	The Great Patriotic War
Scientific activity
Scientific field	surgery
Place of work	Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov; Military Medical Academy named after S. M. Kirov; First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov
Known as	Honorary Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Russian Scientific Center for Surgery named after Academician B.V. Petrovsky" of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences

Biography

In 1916-1924 he studied at a 2nd level school in the city of Kislovodsk. After graduating from school, he went to work as a disinfectant at the disinfection station of Kislovodsk. Here he completed courses in accounting, shorthand, and sanitary courses and began working as a delivery boy in the branch of the Medsantrud trade union, while at the same time intensively preparing to enter the university.

Since 1932, scientific activity began - as a researcher (under the leadership of Professor P. A. Herzen) and the General Surgery Clinic at the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University. The abilities of a researcher and the talent of a surgeon found fertile ground - over several years of hard work, Petrovsky completed research on important issues in oncology (treatment of breast cancer), transfusiology (method of long-term massive transfusions and drip blood transfusions), as well as shock. His first scientific article, “On the assessment of long-term results of surgical treatment of breast cancer,” was published in 1937 in the journal “Surgery.”

In 1937, Petrovsky defended his dissertation for the academic degree of Candidate of Medical Sciences on the topic “Drip transfusion of blood and blood-substituting fluids in oncological practice.” In a revised form, it was published as a monograph in 1948. He retained his interest in blood transfusion in subsequent years, in particular, in the methods of introducing blood into the body and the effect of transfusions on body functions. In 1938 he was awarded the title of senior researcher (associate professor). In 1939-1940, he participated as a leading surgeon and deputy head of a field hospital in the active army, in military events on the Karelian Isthmus.

Since 1941, Petrovsky has been an associate professor at the Department of General Surgery. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, he was the leading surgeon of evacuation hospitals in the active army (1941-1944). In 1944-1945, senior lecturer at the Department of Faculty Surgery at the S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy (Leningrad). During the war, he tested his ideas about blood transfusion methods, successfully using the injection of blood into the carotid artery and then directly into the thoracic aorta.

Having ended the war as an established independent surgeon and researcher, Petrovsky began work in October 1945 as deputy director for science at the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

A large cycle of research, intensively continued in the post-war years, was formulated by Petrovsky into a doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 1947 (the topic “Surgical treatment of gunshot wounds of blood vessels in front-line conditions”). In 1949, the dissertation was published as a monograph (“Surgical treatment of vascular wounds”).

In 1948-1949 - Professor of the Department of General Surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after N.I. Pirogov, in 1949-1951 - Director of the Department of Hospital Surgery and Head of the 3rd Surgical Clinic of the University of Budapest, in 1951-1956 - Head Department of Faculty Surgery of the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute named after N. I. Pirogov. In 1953-1965 - chief surgeon of the 4th Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health.

In 1956, he was awarded the honorary titles “Honored Worker of Science of the RSFSR” and “Honored Worker of Science of the Azerbaijan SSR.” In 1957 he was elected a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (from 1991 - RAMS), in 1966 - the Academy of Sciences (AS) of the USSR (from 1991 - RAS).

Since 1956 - head of the department of hospital surgery and at the same time (since 1963) director. Organizer and participant of the Pirogov Readings.

Organizer (1963) and director (1963-1988) of the All-Union Scientific Center for Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Since 1989 - honorary director of the center.

In 1964, he performed the first successful operation of mitral valve replacement with mechanical (sutureless) fixation, and in 1965, for the first time in the USSR, he successfully performed a human kidney transplant.

Lived in Moscow. He died on May 4, 2004 at the age of 96. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, where his sculpture rises above his grave.

External video files
	The legend of our medicine! To the centenary of Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky
	Diaphragm plastic; Boris Vasilievich Petrovsky operates; 1968
	“I fell in love with medicine in Blagodarny.” Academician B.V.Petrovsky

Memory

Awards and titles

Ranks:

State awards of the Russian Federation:

State awards of the USSR:

• Order of Lenin (February 11, 1961) - for great services in the field of protecting the health of the Soviet people and the development of medical science
• Order of Lenin (December 10, 1965) - for great services in training, development of medical science and in connection with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the 1st Moscow Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Medical Institute named after. I. M. Sechenova
• Order of Lenin (26 June 1978) - for services to the development of healthcare and medical science and in connection with his seventieth birthday
• Order of the October Revolution (1971) - for greater success in fulfilling the tasks of the five-year plan and increasing the efficiency of production in industry, construction and transport and high achievements in the field of science, art, medicine, consumer services
• two Orders of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (24 June 1988) - for services to the development of medical science, training of scientific personnel and in connection with the eightieth anniversary of his birth
• Order of the Red Star (26 May 1942) - for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time
• Medal "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1945)
• Medal “For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970)
• medals

Foreign awards and titles:

• Order of the Banner (Hungary) (1970)
• Medal "Friendship", Mongolian People's Republic (1972)
• Medal "Excellent Teacher of the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies"