Military Doctor and Great Scientist Alexander Vasilyevich Vishnevsky

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A.V. Vishnevsky (1874-1948) - a great Russian scientist and a wonderful surgeon. After graduating from the gymnasium in Astrakhan, he entered the medical faculty of Kazan University, from which he graduated with honors. After that, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine and remained a dissector at the Department of Surgery. In addition, he worked at the Kazan Hospital, defended his dissertation and was admitted to the medical faculty as a Privatdozent. The scientist taught surgery at the university for 30 years, was engaged in scientific activities and had extensive practice. After his death, the institute was headed by his son - Alexander Alexandrovich Vishnevsky, the chief surgeon of several fronts of the Great Patriotic War, later - the chief surgeon of the Soviet army. In 1905 A.V. Vishnevsky went abroad to master the methods of urological research. Three years later, his second business trip took place, but with the aim of studying the genitourinary system and brain surgery. He visited the clinics of famous surgeons, as well as the laboratory of I.I. Mechnikov. During the First World War, A.V. Vishnevsky was a teacher of courses in surgical pathology and a hospital clinic, and in addition he was a senior doctor at a hospital in Kazan. Some 13 years later, after graduating from med. faculty, Alexander Vasilyevich was the head of the department at one of the best universities in Russia. He went to this difficult path of knowledge with great perseverance and diligence. His ongoing scientific, pedagogical and social activities put him among the leading scientists of the university. During his long practice, Alexander Vasilievich published more than a hundred scientific papers, and also created new methods for the treatment of inflammatory processes, purulent wounds and traumatic shock. All of his methods were widely used by Soviet surgeons and saved hundreds of lives. Vishnevsky, like most medical practitioners, used novocaine. But he noticed that the substance works not only as an anesthetic, but also as a healing agent. He realized that inflammation subsides due to the positive influence of the nervous system. One of the main achievements of a physician in the field of science is considered to be the "creeping infiltration method". This discovery played a big role, especially in Soviet medicine. The method of anesthesia "according to Vishnevsky" did not have side effects, in contrast to the usual anesthesia. Such an anesthetic could be made in almost any conditions. The monograph "Local Anesthesia by Creeping Infiltration" was published in 1932, and by the beginning of the war enough time had passed for its final verification. It was during that period that its benefits were manifested with might and main. The military doctors had something to compare with, since the civil war had just ended, that is, if twenty years ago they died from a wound, now it was being cured before our eyes. Prior to Vishnevsky's work, it was believed that a surgical knife and pain were inseparable from each other. His method of local anesthesia dramatically expanded the range of possible patients, now it included the elderly, as well as those who suffered from diseases that were completely incompatible with anesthesia. Also, Alexander Vasilyevich was the first who began to use anti-inflammatory and analgesic novocaine blockades and disinfecting oil-balsamic dressings ("Vishnevsky's Triad"). Thanks to this, most operations at the front took place under local anesthesia, which saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of wounded. Blockades were used to treat shock, surgical sepsis, inflammation, and muscle tone disorders. Another doctor created the world-famous healing "Vishnevsky ointment". "Even the smell of this ointment kills any infection!" - doctors and patients joked. Vishnevsky found a milder form of influence on the nervous system by applying a special ointment-emulsion. This ointment was used for the treatment of wounds, and for the treatment of purulent cavities, and for the treatment of a number of inflammatory processes. She, without exaggeration, saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The ointment has been treated and continues to be treated so far for skin diseases, burns, frostbite, wounds, ulcers, bedsores, wet calluses, boils, inflammation of the lymph nodes and blood vessels, and cuts.

About the authors

Ksenia Sergeevna Popova

Voronezh State Medical University named after N. N. Burdenko

Email: popovakseniy04@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9279-5987

student of the 1th year of the Faculty of General Medicine

Russian Federation, 394036, Voronezh, Studentskaya str., 10

Olga Vasilevna Makhinova

Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N.Burdenko

Email: mahinovaolga@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1799-6361
SPIN-code: 2567-9521

senior Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages

Russian Federation, 394036, Voronezh, Studentskaya str., 10.

Diana Anatolievna Povalyukhina

Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N.Burdenko

Author for correspondence.
Email: pov-diana@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7308-1396
SPIN-code: 6058-7007

senior Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages

Russian Federation, 394036, Voronezh, Studentskaya str., 10

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