Vishnevskii, Aleksandr

Born May 11 (24), 1906, in Kazan. Soviet surgeon. Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1957). Hero of Socialist Labor (1966). Member of the CPSU since 1950. Colonel general of medical services.

Vishnevskii graduated from the medical department of the University of Kazan in 1929. Since 1948 he has been director of the A. V. Vishnevskii Institute of Surgery of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and at the same time (since 1956), chief surgeon of the Soviet Army. He is working on problems of anesthetization in surgery of the heart, lungs, and mediastinum; neurotrophy in surgery; and the use of polymers in surgery. In 1953, Vishnevskii performed the world’s first heart operation for mitral stenosis under local anesthesia. In 1957 he successfully performed the first open heart surgery in the USSR, using a Soviet-made apparatus for artificial blood circulation. In 1955 he was awarded the International La Riche Prize for his work on local anesthesia. He was awarded the Lenin Prize (1960) and the State Prize of the USSR (1970). Vishnevskii is a member of the International Association of Surgeons and an honorary member of the Czechoslovak J. Purkyne Scientific Medical Society, the Swedish Society of Physicians, and the Piedmont Society of Physicians. He has been awarded two Orders of Lenin and six other orders, as well as medals.