Ушел из жизни Анатолий Владимирович Покровский

От лица Ассоциации сосудистых хирургов Кыргызской Республики и от себя лично выражаю искренние соболезнования по поводу гибели основоположника сосудистой хирургии и ангиологии России и СНГ, достойнейшего человека Анатолия Владимировича Покровского.

Искренне сопереживаем Вашей потере! Сообщение о смерти Анатолия Владимировича Покровского поразило нас. Мы помним и не забудем Анатолия Владимировича Покровского как великого человека. Примите наши искренние соболезнования!

Зав. курсом сердечно – сосудистой хирургии
с курсом проктологии КГМИ и ПК
им. С. Б. Даниярова, д.м.н., профессор,
Академик НАН КР. Намазбеков М.Н.

Зав. отделением сосудистой хирургии
Национального госпиталя МЗ КР
к.м.н., доцент Байсекеев Т.А.

Dr Anatoly Vladimirovich Pokrovsky (1930-2022)

On June 2^nd, 2022 at the age of 92, the world`s famous vascular surgeon, the founder and honorary president of the Russian Society of Angiologists and Vascular Surgeons, Editor-in-chief of the journal “Angiology and Vascular Surgery”, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and one of the previous Presidents of the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS), Anatoly Vladimirovich Pokrovsky passed away.

A.V. Pokrovsky was born on November 21^st, 1930 in Minsk (Nowadays Belorussia). Before graduating at the 2^nd Moscow Faculty of Medicine in 1954, A.V. Pokrovsky had spent a whole year at its surgical department. He took the first scientific steps at the Department of Topographic Anatomy. In 1958 he finished a PhD thesis entitled: “On the issue of intrathoracic anesthesia during heart surgery”. In 1959 A.V. Pokrovsky moved to the newly founded Institute for Thoracic Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. In 1961, that institution was transformed into the Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery “A.I.A.N. Bakulev”, where the first department of vascular surgery in the USSR was established. Since 1964 A.V. Pokrovski, at the age of 34, was elected Head of that department. He remained in that position for almost 20 years. In 1983, A.V. Pokrovski moved to the Department of Vascular Surgery of the Institute of Surgery “A.V. Vishnevski”, in which he started working the most challenging vascular procedures. This is how his colleagues spoke of him: “Before A.V. Pokrovski appeared at our institution, reconstructive procedures on the supraaortic arteries had never been performed”. He developed complete vascular surgery including a repair of thoracoabdominal aneurysms. He never avoided the most trying vascular cases. Moreover, he also tried to help all the patients, regardless of the seemingly hopeless outcome.

A.V. Pokrovski generously shared his knowledge, and he never hid his secret surgical techniques. On the contrary, he was always open to professional dialogue. Very quickly, he became the leading vascular surgeon of the former Soviet Union, and then grew to become known on an international level as well. Since 1997, he is a member of the Russian Academy of Arts. In 2000. A.V. Pokrovski became the first and only President of the ESVS from the Russia. He’d been also a member of the Vascular advisory board of the European Society for Cardiovascular Surgery for two decades.

A.V. Pokrovski founded the Russian Society of Angiologists and Vascular Surgeons having been its President until 2019. Every year this Society organizes international meetings that gather leading Russian, regional and international vascular surgeons. No less significant in terms of scientific proportions was the appearance of the journal “Angiology and Vascular Surgery”.

A.V. Pokrovsky was a Chairman and invited guest speakers to numerous Russian and International meetings. He was a member of many Russian, as well ss international societies and associations (Honorary member of the Society for Vascular Surgery). He published 720 scientific papers and 16 books or book chapters. Among other in 1989, he was the author of one chapter in famous Rutherford`s Vascular Surgery. (A.V. Pokorovsky. Nonspecific Aortoarteritis. In: Robert R. Rutherford ed, Vascular Surgery 3rd Edition. W.B. Saunders Company 1989, Philadelphia. ISBN 0-7216-2065-5. pp.217-237.)

During one of the interviews, A.V. Pokrovski said: “Vascular surgery is one of the best branches of medicine. Unlike traditional abdominal, thoracic and oncologic surgery, vascular procedures are not focused on a removal of something, but on restoration. Of course, someone might object to me: vascular surgeons often start interventions by removing a vessel. Still, if we remove it, then we replace it.”

I had a privilege to meet professor Pokrovsky for the first time in Belgrade in 1989. At the time, he was one of the world’s leading vascular surgeons, while I was a resident. After that, we had many meetings. The last one was in Sankt Petersburg in 2019. He always supported me. It is impossible to mention all the significant achievements he’d accomplished. I tried to choose the most important one.

A.V. Pokrovski dedicated his entire life to vascular surgery, which he devotedly served until his last days. Numerous vascular surgeons, students and tens of thousands of his saved patients will remember and deeply respect him. His death is an irreparable loss for everyone who knew him. Let him rest in peace. The vascular community will never forget him.

Lazar Davidovic

Dean of the Faculty of Medicine-University of Belgrade

University Clinic for Vascular Surgery University Clinical Center of Serbia