Collection of gunshot wounds exhibits of the period of the Great patriotic war in the museum of general anatomy department of the S. M. Kirov Military medical academy

Abstract

Thanks to the vigorous activity of the management of the Head Medical Department, and also prominentpathologists of Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, in the first years of the war the collection and manufacturing of preparations of gunshot wounds from the fronts of the Great Patriotic War were organized. This served as more effective training for the mobilized civil medical experts in the field of military field surgery. Collected preparations after the Great Patriotic War were more than 40 years in the Militarymedicalmuseum of the Ministry of Defence of the Soviet Union where the part of exhibits lost their demonstrative properties, and some preparations became worthless. In the late 1980s, thanks to the efforts of professors I. V. G aivoronsky and P. S. Paschenko, the rest of athe collection was transferred to the department of general anatomy of Military Medical Academy and became the foundation for the appropriate section in the educational museum. The collection of preparations has been recreated thanks to the enormous initiative work from teachers of the department of general anatomy. They conceived the exposition concept and developed a multi-stage technique for restoring the anatomic preparations which had lost their demonstrative properties. This also included adequate labelling of specimens. The collection includes 4 sections: “Gunshot wounds of the locomotor apparatus” (2 exhibition cases, 73 preparations), “Gunshot wounds of internal organs” (4 cases, 57 preparations), “Gunshot wounds of the central nervous system” (22 preparations) and “Fire damage in modern armed conflicts” (24 illustrations). The collection over the years of its existence was considerably enriched with data on statistics of gunshot wounds of the period of the Great Patriotic War, war in Afghanistan, the Chechen campaign, and also materials illustrating the newest methods of diagnostics and treatment of fire damage. Now the collection is actively used as educational division for systematic studies to increase the interest in military-medical specialties and moral education of future doctors. Refs 20. Figs 3.