Gavriil Abramovich ILIZAROV Need of Orthopedic Care Journeyed to Kurgan
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Who’s Who in Orthopedics Hunter’s career. His description of the cartilage antibiotics and little equipment, and the operating was far in advance of his time. The article also room was heated by a wood fire. reveals the wealth of anatomic material available Nevertheless, in the two-storey wooden-frame to the author. The “subjects,” including the bodies hospital, he invented and developed the remark- of children, were procured largely through the able methods and equipment by which he became services of “resurrectionists,” that is grave known. By 1951, he was using his devices to treat robbers. The common disease of the joints in complex and infected fractures and to lengthen Hunter’s time was tuberculosis. The acuity of his bones. His theory that bone would grow if observations deserves our admiration. gradually distracted and his external fixator, of circular steel haloes connected by rods and bone-fixating wires, produced dramatic results not seen before in orthopedics. His work was the beginning of a new medical paradigm, the con- servation and exploitation of the unlimited natural plasticity of bone. Although Dr. Ilizarov’s results were astonish- ing, his theory was contrary to orthodox views on bone regeneration. His reputation remained con- fined to Siberia until 1967, when he successfully treated the Russian Olympic highjumper, Valery Brumel who, after a motorcycle accident, had chronically infected nonunited fractures of both legs, even after 14 operations by the best surgeons in Moscow. After treatment by Ilizarov, Brumel, completely healed, went on to jump again in competition. Dr Ilizarov’s years in a small wooden hospital with no research laboratory were over. It became known that he could straighten and lengthen a shattered or deformed leg and the Russian elite in Gavriil Abramovich ILIZAROV need of orthopedic care journeyed to Kurgan. His medical reputation soared into national 1921–1992 prominence and by 1984 he presided over a new 1,000-bed Scientific Center for Reconstructive Gavriil Ilizarov made a remarkable life odyssey Orthopedics and Traumatology, with over 350 from an isolated village in the Caucasus moun- surgeons, 1,500 nurses, 60 doctorate researchers, tains to become a world figure in orthopedics and and 24 operating rooms. one of the most decorated medical scientists in the By 1986, North American orthopedic surgeons Soviet Union. He was born in a small Jewish had learned the Ilizarov techniques from community and was unable to attend school until Europeans who had worked directly with him, he was 11 years old because his family had no and were performing Ilizarov limb-saving opera- money for shoes. tions. The use of his methods is widespread: the He graduated from Simferopol Medical North American Association for the Study and School, which had been moved during the war to Application of the Methods of Ilizarov (ASAMI) the Soviet Near East, and in 1944 was sent to the now includes over 200 surgeons. Siberian town of Dolgovka as the only physician Dr Ilizarov was one of the Soviet Union’s most for an area the size of a small European nation. decorated civilians, receiving the Order of Hero In 1949 he was promoted to become a staff physi- of Socialist Labor, the Order of Lenin three times, cian at the hospital in Kurgan, Western Siberia, appointments to the National Academy of where he was faced with the daunting task of Sciences and the Soviet Parliament, as well as the treating many patients with war wounds that had highest civilian honors of Italy, Yugoslavia and progressed to limb-threatening unhealed frac- Jordan. His work is now widely known through- tures, infections, and other complications. out the world and will have an enduring impact Working conditions were primitive: there were no on the relief of suffering patients. He was truly a 156 Who’s Who in Orthopedics remarkable man whose theories and surgical will remember the many ingenious models that he methods have enlightened physicians and saved constructed and delighted in displaying to illus- countless limbs. He died on July 24, 1992 at the trate fine points of functional anatomy. He was age of 71 in Kurgan, Russia. He leaves behind his equally proficient in designing and constructing wife, Valentina, his children Svetlana, Maria and innovative parts for the elaborate model train Alexander, and his three grandchildren. ensemble housed in his home. Dr. Inman always felt that he was not a joiner. He preferred to spend most of any leisure time with his family, Irene (the former Miss Cootay of Hilo, Hawaii) and they were very close through- out their life together. Nevertheless, Verne was a member of many professional societies, which he chose to support in the scientific arena rather than in the committee structure. The major exception was The American Orthopedic Association, which he served as Vice-President in 1964. Dr. Inman was an outstanding teacher. His boundless enthusiasm quickly captured his audi- ences, which had no difficulty in following his crystal-clear presentations. He was a superb cli- nician, but the needs of his patients seemed almost to be forgotten in his zeal to understand and relate to the patients the intricacies of their disabilities. As he often said, “Once I have arrived at the solution of a patient’s problem, I am content to relegate the implementation to others.” He dis- liked committee function and perfunctory admin- Verne Thomson INMAN istrative duties with a passion. Above all, he was possessed by a consuming curiosity that led him 1905–1980 continually to ask questions and seek solutions, all the while maintaining a resolute scepticism Born in San Jose, California, in 1905, Dr. Inman when confronted by superficial or pat answers. lived out his life in the state that was kind to him Verne T. Inman, MD, PhD, the scientist, prob- and provided him an education at its university ably did more than any individual before him to campuses in Berkeley and San Francisco. He define and refine the role of “man the machine.” repaid the state many fold by serving on the It was he who defined normal locomotion in terms faculty of the medical school in San Francisco for of its component parts for ease of understanding 48 years, including a term as Chairman of the and application to disturbed function. The exact- Department of Orthopedic Surgery from 1957 to ness of his measurements established demanding 1970. standards for contemporary investigators as well Although Dr. Inman was most widely known as for those who will follow. His remarkable and respected for his erudite investigative studies, ability to simplify concepts and formulate princi- those who knew him closely remember him as a ples enabled him to see clearly what others often light-hearted, congenial, informal individual who saw dimly. was as much at home in the campus maintenance That his greatest contribution to orthopedics shops as in the Chancellor’s office. His cheerful would be in research was by design. On gradua- greeting for secretaries, nurses, students, profes- tion from college in 1928, he initiated his master’s sors, cooks, and administrators was always on a program as a medical student, and filed his thesis first-name basis. When summoned to the tele- on cutaneous nerve distribution in 1929. After phone by a consultative call from Washington, graduation from medical school in 1932, he D.C., he was apt to be found in the brace shop accepted an appointment in the anatomy depart- assisting the prosthetist or in the anatomy labora- ment and immediately embarked on his doctorate tory, accompanied by a student or two, dissecting program. His thesis dealing with the growth of the a bear’s foot. All of the visitors to his laboratory human fetal cranium and appendicular skeleton in 157.