PHENOMENON OF DEMIKHOV. Achievements and prospects of heart transplantation in the USSR in the early 1970s

Abstract

The paper presents the analysis of two publications written by two pioneers of heart transplantation in the USSR, A.A. Vishnevsky with co-authors and G.M. Solovyov, which covered the state of the organ transplantation issue in 1971–1973 and gave predictions for its future development. It is shown that the authors of those publications saw and formulated the main trends in the development of the problem in one and the same way. Meanwhile, G.M. Solovyov, being the Director of the specialized Institute of Organ and Tissue Transplantation of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences saw the issues of organ transplantation more in depth than A.A. Vishnevsky who headed the A.V. Vishnevsky Institute of Surgery of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. In particular, this concerned immunological studies. Shortly after its establishment in 1969, the Institute of Organ and Tissue Transplantation arranged a powerful laboratory of immunogenetics on its base. The staff of that laboratory (L.V. Smirnova, Yu.M. Zaretskaya, L.P. Alekseev, V.I. Shkurko, A.M. Sochneva, I.V. Petrova, etc.) conducted world-class immunological studies, which results inspired certain optimism among surgeons. A more complicated situation was with the clinical issues of organ transplantation, with the solution of organizational, moral and ethical issues, where, in addition to doctors, the active participation of legislators, economists, and healthcare organizers was required. This paper presents comparative data on the state of political, economic, and organizational issues of organ transplantation in the Russian Federation between the 2010s and early 2020s. It is shown that the planned in the 2020s tendency of their positive solution and further development inspires certain optimism.