Vasilii Obraztsov

Obraztsov, Vasilii Parmenovich

 

Born Jan. 1(13), 1849 (according to other data, 1851), in Griazovets, present-day Vologda Oblast (according to other data, Vologda); died Dec. 14, 1920, in Kiev. Russian doctor of internal medicine.

In 1875, Obraztsov graduated from the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy. In 1877–78 he served in the Russo-Turkish War as a regimental physician. From 1893 he was a professor at the University of Kiev.

In 1910, Obraztsov and his student N. D. Strazhesko gave the first clear clinical description of myocardial infarction. Obraztsov developed methods of deep sliding palpation of organs in the abdominal cavity (1887) and the immediate one-finger auscultation of the thorax (1910). He demonstrated the advantage of listening with the unaided ear in the detection of a number of audible changes in heart activity. Obraztsov contributed greatly to the study of gallop rhythm and the mechanism of diastolic and systolic heart tones. He isolated enteritides as an independent clinical form (1895) and perfected the diagnosis of a number of diseases of the digestive organs.

Obraztsov founded an important school of internists, which included M. M. Gubergrits, F. A. Udintsov, and V. N. Ivanov.

WORKS

Izbr. trudy. Kiev, 1950.

REFERENCES

Strazhesko, N. D., M. M. Gubergrits, and F. A. Udintsov. Professor V. P. Obraztsov. Kiev, 1947. (Contains references.)
Primak, F. Ia. “Zhizn’ i deiatel’nost’ V. P. Obraztsova, ego vliianie na sovremennuiu klinicheskuiu meditsinu.” Vrachebnoe delo, 1970, no. 8.
Gubergrits, A. Ia. “Rol’ V. P. Obraztsova v razvitii otechestvennoi gastroenterologii.” Klinicheskaia meditsina, 1971, no. 1.