Vasilii Kolesov

Vasilii Ivanovich Kolesov (Russian: Василий Иванович Колесов; 24 September 1904, Martyanovskaja village in Vologda Oblast – 2 August 1992, St. Petersburg) was one of the pioneers of global cardiac surgery. He was the first to perform successful internal coronary artery bypass surgery using mammary artery–coronary artery anastomosis in 1964.[1] Also in 1964, he performed the first successful coronary bypass using a standard suture technique.[2] Kolesov was a recipient of the USSR State Prize and Honoured Worker of Science in USSR (1964).[3]

Vasilii Kolesov
Born	24 September 1904 Martyanovskaja village, Vologda Oblast, Russian Empire
Died	2 August 1992(1992-08-02) (aged 87) St. Petersburg, Russia
Alma mater	Leningrad Institute of Postgraduate Medical Studies
Awards	USSR State Prize
Scientific career
Fields	Cardiac surgery
Institutions	Perm Medical Institute S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy First Academician I.P. Pavlov Leningrad Medical Institute

Early life and education

Kolesov was born in 1904 in Martemianovskaya in Vologda Oblast of the Russian Empire. In 1927, he was admitted to the State Institute of Medical Knowledge (now Saint Petersburg State Medical Academy) and completed its medical program. During his time at the university, he was a member of the student biology society, which at the time was headed by Pyotr Ivanov. In 1931, fresh from a university, Kolesov went to Chusovoy, Perm. Three years later, he was admitted to surgery ward of the Perm Medical Institute, becoming an assisting physician under Vasilii Parin. After receiving Master's degree in surgery from the Leningrad Institute of Postgraduate Medical Studies in 1938, Kolesov then defended his thesis his thesis "On Eventration of Spleen Into the Abdominal Wound", obtaining for it a PhD.[4]

War

As a surgeon during the Siege of Leningrad, Kolesov was responsible for the treatment of countless war casualties, majority of wounded soldiers which suffered from coronary artery disease. And, perhaps, it was during this very siege where Kolesov learned about coronary artery bypass surgery, which he later performed on 25 February 1964 at the Department of Surgery of the 1st Leningrad Medical Institute.[5]

Career

After the war, Kolesov was offered a position by Pyotr Kupriyanov at the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy. After a year of service there and obtaining of PhD for writing a dissertation on bacteriological control and septic wound treatment with bacteriophage, he left for Austria. In 1949, Kolesov became head of the surgery service of the Central Army Group and then served as chief of the battlefield surgery department in Kharkiv. In 1955, he became head of the Faculty Surgery Clinic of the First Academician I.P. Pavlov Leningrad Medical Institute. It was there that Kolesov's teaching and research talents became obvious and he performed the first coronary bypass surgery on 25 February 1964, which made it possible to refer to him as the coronary surgery pioneer.[4]

Kolesov was a member of the Pirogov Surgical Society and became an author of a book in 1966.[4]

References

1. Konstantinov, I. E. (2004). "Vasilii I. Kolesov: A Surgeon to Remember". Texas Heart Institute Journal. 31 (4): 349–358. PMC 548233. PMID 15745284.
2. Kolesov, VI; Kolesov, EV (February 1991). "Twenty years' results with internal thoracic artery-coronary artery anastomosis". The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 101 (2): 360–1. doi:10.1016/s0022-5223(19)36773-x. PMID 1992247.
3. Биография В. И. Колесова на сайте Russika.ru.
4. Sedov VM, Nemkov AS (2014). "Vasilii Ivanovich Kolesov: pioneer of coronary surgery". Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg. 45 (2): 220–4. doi:10.1093/ejcts/ezt605.
5. Olearchyk, Andrew S.; Olearchyk, Renata M. (1999). "Reminiscences of Vasilii I. Kolesov". The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 67 (1): 273–276. doi:10.1016/S0003-4975(98)01225-9. ISSN 0003-4975. PMID 10086577.

Further reading

• Konstantinov I.E. Vasilii I. Kolesov: A Surgeon to Remember. Tex Heart Inst J. 2004; 31(4): 349—358. PMC 548233.