Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov, whose biography is presented in this article, is a famous domestic orthopedist and surgeon, professor, doctor of medical sciences, an outstanding inventor, holder of a large number of awards and titles. We will talk about the most important facts of his biography in this article.
Biography of Ilizarov
Talking about the biography of Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov has been worth since his birth. He was born in the summer of 1921 in the small village of Bialowieza in modern Poland.
He was brought up in a large Jewish family. They didn’t live well, he was the eldest of six children. In the period from 1939 to 1946, the village was actually located on the territory of the USSR. Initially, his mother's relatives came from there, and after serving in the Red Army, his father finally settled there.
Ilizarov's mother was called Gold Rosenblum. When the hero of our article was seven years old, he went with his parents to his paternal relatives. The future outstanding doctor graduated from an eight-year school, entered the medical department in Buinaksk in the territory of Dagestan.
The biography of Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov clearly reflects how difficult it was to get education for children from poor families in the Soviet Union. The hero of our article managed to go to school only at 11 or 12 years old. But he worked diligently at home, so he managed to immediately pass all the subjects of the school curriculum and enter the fifth grade, bypassing the initial link. He graduated from high school as an external student by 1938.
After the medical faculty he studied at the Crimean State Medical Institute, which bore the name of Stalin. Ilizarov entered there in 1939. He received a diploma in the 44th.
Professional career
The labor biography of Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov began with the post of doctor of the Polovinsky district hospital, then he worked in the village of Dolgovka. These settlements were in the Kurgan region. It was in Kurgan that Ilizarov worked almost his whole life.
In 1947, he was appointed head of the Kosulinsky district health department. It was here that he first encountered a patient who needed a unique apparatus developed by the inventor. With its help, it was possible to fix the bone. This was a village musician who moved exclusively on crutches due to knee diseases. The operation was successful, this prompted the doctor to continue to work and improve the Ilizarov distraction and compression apparatus. It was in his honor that he was later named.
Apparatus development
In 1950, the orthopedic inventor began to work in the regional hospital of Kurgan. A year later, Ilizarov offers a unique development - an apparatus that can serve for transosseous osteosynthesis. In the summer of 1952 he filed an application to formally formalize his invention, after about two years he received an copyright certificate, an analogue of a modern patent.
Since 1955, he has been actively introducing him into the work, having received the post of head of the orthopedic and traumatology department of the hospital for war invalids. Many in this institution needed the Ilizarov apparatus, helping them to their feet.
Heading the surgical department of the regional hospital, Ilizarov watched hundreds of patients who had damaged bones at the front almost daily walked in front of him. The conservative treatment that they received practically did not help them. The famous doctor Ilizarov came up with a fundamentally new way to help with fractures.
The uniqueness and novelty of this method, as well as the apparatus used, was confirmed by the corresponding copyright certificate. With its help, it was possible to significantly increase the effectiveness, as well as to reduce the treatment time for fractures.
Operating principle
Invented by a famous doctor in 1950, the device combined the fixation of bone fragments with the control of complex biological processes.
By itself, it looked like metal "rings" on which special "spokes" were attached. The rings themselves were interconnected by metal rods, which made it possible to change their orientation at a speed of about one millimeter per day.
At its core, the Ilizarov apparatus was a universal dynamic design that allowed for the creation of optimal biological, medical and mechanical conditions that contributed to bone fusion, and they also helped with the functional anatomical restoration of the entire musculoskeletal system. Ilizarov literally put hundreds of people on their feet.
Ilizarov suggested that his apparatus could be used in large quantities, for this he unified all the details and components as much as possible. As a result, for each specific case, doctors mount a special kind of apparatus using the minimum number of parts. With its help, it is possible to cope with fractures, injuries and even congenital deformities of bone tissue.
Also, this device is used in the so-called aesthetic operations in orthopedic cosmetology, when it is necessary to carry out procedures associated with straightening or lengthening the legs.
Universal recognition
At the same time, Ilizarov could not be universally recognized for a long time. Only in 1966, a problem laboratory was founded on the basis of the Kurgan city hospital, which the hero of our article began to lead. She was directly studying the effect of this apparatus.
In 1968, the hero of our article gave a thesis in Perm, in which he presented the rich experience he had gained over many years, during which thousands of patients passed through his hands. The orthopedist conducts a deep comprehensive analysis, on the basis of which he was able to make discoveries of certain patterns and features during tissue regeneration and growth, which made it possible to cope with limb problems.
In 1969, for his outstanding work, he immediately received a doctorate in medical sciences, not even being a candidate. In the late 60s, his problem laboratory was transformed into a branch of the Leningrad Research Institute. Ilizarov became its director.
Basic research in the field of traumatology
Academician Ilizarov also conducted truly fundamental research in the field of traumatology and orthopedics. For example, it was Ilizarov who achieved positive results in restoring the lost functions of the spinal cord even after they were completely suppressed.
Prior to this, such basic research in the field of orthopedics and traumatology has not been carried out not only in our country, but also anywhere on the planet.
In 1971, the branch continued its development. It has already become a separate research institute, which specialized in experimental orthopedics, as well as in-depth clinical research. Ilizarov expectedly became its leader. Already in 1987, it was transformed into the All-Union Center, which was called "Restorative Traumatology and Orthopedics", its head office was located just in Kurgan, and branches were opened in Leningrad, Kazan, Volgograd, Ufa, Krasnodar, Omsk, Sverdlovsk, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk and Moscow region.
Now it is the RTC "WTO", which is still successfully operating.
Success abroad
Since 1982, the Ilizarov method was introduced into foreign medical practice. Ilizarov paid official visits to France, Spain, Great Britain, Mexico, the USA and many other countries.
The Italian medical company has acquired a license to manufacture and sell its device in Western Europe and South America. International courses were regularly held at which doctors were taught this method in practice. The director of these courses was Ilizarov himself. Many foreigners began to personally come to Kurgan to get help from the founder of this technique.
In 1992, Ilizarov died of heart failure. He was buried in Kurgan, the scientist was 71 years old.
Personal life
Ilizarov was married three times. In 1947, his son Alexander was born, who became a design engineer and went to Novosibirsk. Daughter Svetlana lives in New York, works as a rehabilitation doctor. Another daughter's name is Maria.
The third time the hero of our article married in 1961, Valentina Alekseevna, lived with her until his death.
The current state of the center of Ilizarov
Now RRC "WTO" is working successfully, helping many people. It is also called the center of Ilizarov. Assistance in the work is provided by the local health department of Kurgan and federal structures.
Today, the center employs about one and a half thousand qualified specialists; people come here from all over Russia and from abroad to get treatment. The Kurgan Health Department oversees this work.