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Dmitry Alekseyevich Arapov

Dmitry Alekseyevich Arapov (Дмитрий Алексеевич Арапов) (1897 – 1984) was a Russian military surgeon.

Arapov was a member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and Lieutenant General of the Medical Service. His ideas were innovative, and radically changed the approaches to surgical interventions and medicine in general.

Arapov commented on the development of anaerobic infection he observed in conflict. He observed that ‘anaerobic infection can develop when fragments of artillery shells, air bombs and hand grenades with extensive damage to tissues and contamination of their earth, fragments of ammunition, linen, etc., are injured by fragments‘.

The author of two notable monographs “Gas gangrene” (1940), “Inhalation anesthesia” (1949), in addition to more than two hundred scientific works

Described Arapov contracture as a reflex contraction of the right hip joint in acute appendicitis in 1968


Biography
  • Born on November 7, 1897 in Moscow, Russia
  • 1916 – Junior medical officer in Moscow
  • 1925 – Graduate from the medical faculty of the 2nd Moscow State University
  • 1929 – Emergency surgeon at the Sklifosovsky (Н.В. Склифосовского) Institute
  • 1939 – Drafted as a field surgeon during the Soviet-Finnish war. He rescued the wounded, operated on soldiers in hospitals on the front line; appointed senior surgeon of the mobile field hospital on the Kola Peninsula.
  • 1941 – Head of the surgical service of the Northern Fleet in Polyarny. Published his treatise on ‘Gas Gangrene” based on his experience; the book was urgently printed in a large numbers and sent to all hospitals of the active army as a training manual; later awarded the Order of Pirogov (Орден Пирогова) for this work.
  • 1945 – Head of the medical department and consultant surgeon of the Central Moscow Naval Hospital.
  • 1949 – Doctor of Medical Sciences
  • 1950 – Chief Surgeon of the USSR Navy
  • 1953 – Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences
  • 1959 – Honoured Scientist of the Russian SFSR
  • Military awards include: The Order of the Red Banner (Орденом Красного Знамени), the Order of the Patriotic War of the I degree (Орденом Отечественной войны I степени), two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (Орденами Трудового Красного Знамени), and the Order of the Red Star (Орденом Красной Звезды).
  • Died on June 14, 1984 in Moscow, Russia

Medical Eponyms
Arapov Contracture (1968)

Reflex contraction of the right hip joint in acute appendicitis. Pain induced reflex contraction of the right hip joint in acute appendicitis


Key Medical Attributions:

Arapov commented on the development of anaerobic infection he observed in conflict. He observed that ‘anaerobic infection can develop when fragments of artillery shells, air bombs and hand grenades with extensive damage to tissues and contamination of their earth, fragments of ammunition, linen, etc., are injured by fragments‘.

In the course of the Great Patriotic War, 490 wounded D. A. Arapov noted an anaerobic infection with fission injuries in 75.2% of cases, and for bullet – 22.5%. He observed a large number of complications of anaerobic infection when mines, grenades and fragments of aerial bombs were wounded.

Арапов Д. А. “Газовая гангрена”, 1940 г.

  • In his 1949 monograph “Inhalational anesthesia” Arapov suggested that in order to prevent shock the use of nitrous oxide (gas anesthesia) on ambulances would be prudent.

Арапов Д. А. “Ингаляционный наркоз”, 1949 г.

  • For several years in co-authorship, in his book “Tracheostomy as a treatment method for emergency conditions” he described the main contraindications and indications for tracheostomy at the prehospital stage.

Арапов Д. А., Исаков Ю. В. “Трахеостомия как лечебный метод при неотложных состояниях”, 1964 г.


Major Publications
  • Арапов Д. А. Газовая гангрена. – Москва ; Ленинград : Медгиз, 1940.
  • Арапов Д. А. Ингаляционный наркоз. – Москва : Медгиз, 1949.
  • Арапов Д. А., Исаков Ю. В. Трахеостомия как лечебный метод при неотложных состояниях. – Москва : Медицина, 1964.
  • Arapov D.A. Anaerobic wound infections. Medgiz, Moscow 1950.
  • Arapov D.A, Isakov Iu.V. Indications and contra-indications for tracheostomy in some types of respiratory disorders. Grudn. Khir. 1961; 3: 105-11.
  • Arapov D.A., Simonian K.S., Kaplan B.S. Paradoxes of acute appendicitis. Vestn. Khir. Im. II Grek. 1968; 101(11): 22-26.
  • Arapov D.A., Potemkin N.T., Tsarev N.I., Bratanchuk B.F., Pugachev A.F. Acute appendicitis. Voen. Med. Zh. 1973; 3: 33-6.

References

Biography

Eponymous terms


Russian Emergency Physician

MBBS BSc (Hons), Imperial College London. Emergency trainee with an interest in research and all things surgical

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