The first and only one in Russia is a museum dedicated to traumatology and orthopedics, literally by the hour allowing you to establish a chronology of the development of events that made the Ilizarov Center a bastion of scientific activity and new treatment technologies. The whole development of the famous orthopedic clinic - at a glance.
Genius
The symbol of the Kurgan region is the Russian Scientific Center for Reconstructive Traumatology and Orthopedics named after Academician G. A. Ilizarov. Its history began in the forties, with the first ideas of the famous doctor, and began to be embodied in 1966, when Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov became the head of the laboratory at the Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, where the introduction of the method he proposed in clinical practice began.
But, probably, it is more correct to lead the story from the sources, from the poor Jewish family in the distant Belovezhie, on the territory of modern Belarus. The Civil War has just ended, with which the Red Army fighter Abram Elizarov, the father of the future celebrity, returned. And in 1921, at the beginning of the summer, a wonderful doctor, surgeon, inventor Gabriel Abramovich Ilizarov was born, to the great joy of his parents and to the happiness of all people injuring limbs,. Born, graduated from an eight-year school, and then a medical rabfak. In 1939 he entered the medical institute in Simferopol and in 1944 graduated from it. And a long journey began from the surgeon of the rural hospital to the director of the Center, who later received his name.
New method
Many hundreds of fighters passed through the hands of a surgeon from wartime to the early fifties. Already in Kurgan, heading the surgical department of the hospital, where war invalids tried to restore health, Ilizarov observed the effects of bone damage: existing treatment methods yielded practically no results. The surgeon, with all his heart, with all his thoughts, was looking for a way out of this difficult situation.
Finally, Ilizarov proposed his own method of bone fusion and an apparatus, confirmed by copyright, to implement this method. And the device did not fail! The effectiveness of the treatment has increased unusually, the treatment time for fractures has been significantly reduced. Over time, with practical use, the use of the Ilizarov apparatus has expanded significantly.
Apparatus
The Ilizarov Center still uses this very device, invented in 1950, transosseous compression distraction apparatus, which not only stably fixes bone fragments, but also controls biological processes of bone tissue development, which are very complex. It’s just, it would seem, metal rings with knitting needles attached to them, which pass through the bone, fixing the fracture. However - not easy. The rods connecting the rings have their own mechanics, which allows you to change the orientation of the rings in millimeters per day. That is, it is a dynamic universal design that allows the bones to grow together and at the same time the musculoskeletal system to return functionality. For wider use, Gabriel Abramovich unified all the details and components of the apparatus. Now the Ilizarov Center is preparing each doctor so that he can individually - for each individual case - mount the necessary variety of apparatus from the same number of parts. Injuries, fractures and congenital deformities of bone tissue, even orthopedic cosmetology - lengthening and straightening of the legs - all this has become curable and accessible for any resident of our country who comes with his pain to Russia, to the city of Kurgan, finds Maria Ulyanova Street and the house number six, where they are waiting for him.
Confession
Many, long and difficult years of work have passed before universal recognition. Only in 1968, outstanding achievements were appreciated, and for the method of transosseous osteosynthesis, Ilizarov received a degree - without the title of candidate - doctor of medical sciences. The thesis in Perm was defended, where the vast experience of curing thousands and thousands of people was presented and summarized. A comprehensive analysis made it possible to discover patterns in the regeneration and growth of bone tissue, which made it possible not only to lengthen, but also restore lost parts of the limbs - fingers, foot. It was a sensation!
The Ilizarov Center also received the first results of its experiments to restore the functions of the spinal cord after almost complete surgical intersection. Not only in the USSR, nowhere else in the world were such studies conducted either in traumatology or in orthopedics. The novelty of the inventions studied by the Ilizarov Center was unique and undeniable, therefore, our orthopedics and traumatology rightfully occupied a leading position and still holds it thanks to the fact that in 1987 the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR reorganized the Kurgan Scientific Research Institute, creating in its place The All-Union Kurgan Center of Ilizarov with branches in Leningrad, Kazan, Volgograd, Ufa, Sverdlovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Vladivostok and in the Moscow Region.
Triumphal procession
Leading foreign countries began to introduce the Ilizarov method into medical practice. The foreign press calls the academician no less than Michelangelo from orthopedics. The famous doctor receives invitations to France, Spain, the USA, England, Mexico, smiles and continues to work hard. In the meantime, the Italian Medical Plastic bought a license to manufacture and sell a wonderful device to all countries of Western Europe, Brazil and Argentina. The Ilizarov Center has not yet had this name, but has already gained worldwide fame.
In the same place, in Italy, the Association for the Study of the Ilizarov Method was created, and it decided to conduct permanent international courses on mastering this method. Ilizarov is chosen as the director of these courses, which open in Belgium, Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, the USA and in a number of other countries. Ilizarov alone visited more than thirty with lectures, conferences, training and operations. International relations are expanding and gaining strength constantly now. And how many foreign citizens were cured by the Ilizarov Russian Research Center - it’s difficult to count them!
Awards
G. A. Ilizarov was awarded many titles and awards; he received even more international and national prizes. Lenin’s one, plus Hero of Socialist Labor. Order of Lenin and Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Medals. He is dedicated to the museum in Kurgan, an asteroid in space, films - popular science and art, paintings by famous artists, books and periodicals (including one medical - "Orthopedic genius").
But at the peak of his fame, the doctor continued to work so that the Kurgan center of Ilizarov continued to be ahead of the rest for as long as possible. Ilizarov is a talented inventor, and also very active. He has two hundred and eight patented and copyrighted inventions, of which only eighteen have been patented abroad (in ten countries). Many medals of VDNH of the USSR gathered in his collection. And Academician Ilizarov was not only in the USSR, but also in the Academies of Sciences of Cuba, Macedonia. His activity was very extensive: he was a deputy at various levels, worked at four congresses of the CPSU. But never such work overshadowed the main thing. Under the leadership of Ilizarov, fifty-two candidate and seven doctoral dissertations were defended, he could be proud of his students. But his brainchild is, of course, an orthopedic center. Ilizarov was gone, but his work will always live.
Method Details
An extensive system of operational bloodless methods of transosseous osteosynthesis has been widely introduced into the practice of traumatology and orthopedics. Fractures of the extremities are treated in absolutely any localization, as well as their shortening and deformation, bone defects are removed without transplantation, as well as false joints, all pathologies of the hand, foot, and large joints. This ingenious invention calls on scientists who have fallen in love with Kurgan, Ilizarov, a medical center, to lead the team to new victories, thereby paying tribute to its creator, ascetic, and scientist. And the Ilizarov case did not stop, it is moving! Numerous designs of apparatuses and methods of operation are being developed, bone formation processes are being studied more and more deeply. The method has remained the same in essence, but it is being improved. It is now used in all regions of Russia, in all CIS countries, as well as in eighty-eight countries of the world, where they probably do not know where the Ilizarov Orthopedics Center is located - Kurgan, this distant Ural city.
In addition to traumatology and orthopedics, the Ilizarov method is now used in vertebrology, antiology, oncology and many other areas of practical medicine. Already after the branches of the Ilizarov Center were "orphaned," his followers defended one hundred and eighty-seven candidate and forty-nine doctoral dissertations. Published scientific works will soon be considered tens of thousands, and almost two hundred teaching aids have been published for practitioners, as well as forty-five monographs. The memory of a brilliant creator is alive! Photos of the Ilizarov Center from the museum named after him only confirm this. Today it is a medical clinic equipped with all the most modern achievements of science and technology.
Today
Annually, more than one hundred thousand patients with pathologies of orthopedic and neuroorthopedic nature accepts the Ilizarov Center. Reviews are the most enthusiastic. There is a hospital with eight hundred beds and a consultation and diagnostic department. The team working within these walls is truly powerful - one and a half thousand specialists of the highest qualification, including four academicians, ten professors, thirty-four doctors and ninety-three candidates of science. They help everyone without exception - from infants to the elderly.
The diagnostic base and resources for providing medical care are the most advanced today, taking into account all international standards. They help patients with a wide variety of indications.
- The most complicated anomalies of the development of the spine.
- Congenital and acquired diseases of the joints and limbs.
- Injuries of any complexity and localization, their consequences.
- Orthopedic complications in case of systemic (for example, incomplete osteogenesis, phosphate diabetes), neurological (for example, cerebral palsy), endocrine diseases, diseases of accumulation (mucopolysaccharidosis), as well as related pathologies.
- Severe traumatic injuries of the osteoarticular system, gunshot wounds and their consequences.
- Complications are complex and severe after surgery in other hospitals.
Scientific Center Ilizarov
Now in the clinic of the Center there is forty years of experience in treating the most severe cases of purulent osteology - osteomyelitis. Here, large and small joints are endoprosthetically and endoprosthetically replaced, lost limbs are prosthetized and all categories of patients are orthopedized. Here is the best medical service in Russia and in the world for this profile, which is confirmed by an international quality certificate. A friendly environment awaits patients, children and people with limited mobility always make up the largest percentage of the clinic population. Fear and pain are minimal, but maximum partnership.
The Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology annually gathers courses for foreign and Russian doctors. The Scientific Center of Academician Ilizarov continues its wonderful traditions, it is not in vain here every year there are more and more unique scientific discoveries. What is the working principle of this flagship of modern orthopedics today?
- Recovery should be a collaborative process between staff and patients in a safe, comfortable, and welcoming environment.
- Personal leadership can only be for the success of the Center: the ability to captivate others with mandatory responsibility. Leadership is never based on titles and positions.
- Any employee of the Center understands that the reputation of the Center depends on its actions. Actions are formed from attitudes towards the Center.
- A strong team is stability. This is the talent and hard work of each employee and the interaction of all in a positive way.
- Ahead of all means is an idea. The genius of Ilizarov Center is founded, you can not lose this identity.
- Not sharing experience is immoral!
- To honor the past, improve the present, plan the future.
The Ilizarov method of treatment called the invention itself - a medical device. But not only he is involved in the recovery of the patient. An accessible environment for a habitual lifestyle, leisure and food are no less important for recovery. The Ilizarov Center has always been very attentive to these components. Physical therapy classes are regularly held here in order to keep the muscles in good shape. If the approach to treatment is complex, the disease goes away faster, without complications, and the patient is much more able to return to a full life.
Museum
Truly relics of the orthopedic clinic are stored here. The halls of the museum at the G.A. Ilizarov Russian Center for Traumatology and Orthopedics have been updated and filled with expositions that allow us to follow the chronological order of the formation and development of the famous clinic. Now here are modern technical innovations presented. A visit to the museum not only introduces the heritage of orthopedics and traumatology, but also allows you to experience everything that surgeons experience at the operating table. Those who wish can independently assemble the bone fixation design or hold a real surgeon drill, as well as any other traumatologist tools. Here, the expositions contain several functions at once: entertaining, enlightening, educational.
Especially interesting are multimedia programs. Using a computer, the visitor has the opportunity, without any microscope or anatomical atlas, to admire the layered structure of the human body. There is an operating room exposure. There you can observe the progress of the operation on the big screen - in real time, since the cameras are installed in the real operating room. The museum has many halls, and all of them are interesting: Ilizarov’s office, where he literally lived from 1972 to 1983. Here everything is as it was then: a table, an armchair, books, apparatus designs, portraits on the walls ... And the spirit of a brilliant scientist, inventor, doctor is in the air. His memory is alive, because his work continues!