The article is about the first foreign students in Women’s Medical Institute. The issue of their admission to the Institute was considered based on the material not had been used by anyone. This was one of the first experiences of educational cooperation with representatives of other countries. A part of the foreigners was drawn into the maelstrom of the Russian events of 1917–1921, and remained in the country until 1923.

Since 1926, Peter Andreevich Kupriyanov served at Z.P. Solovyov Central Red Army Military Hospital of Leningrad and simultaneously began to work part-time at Pavlov First Medical Institute of Leningrad. This article talks about the work of P.A. Kupriyanov at The First Medical Institute of Leningrad from 1926 to 1948.

Recurrent hiatal hernia is the re-displacement of the abdominal organs into the chest after surgical treatment. Indications for repeated surgical interventions for this pathology are resistant to medical correction gastroesophageal reflux or anatomical disorders, bearing the risk of developing life-threatening conditions. The key task of revision interventions is to identify and address the causes of the failure of the primary operation. The main factors of the recurrence of hernias of this localization are the large size of the hiatal opening, the mechanical weakness of the legs of the diaphragm and the shortening of the esophagus. To increase the reliability of the esophageal aperture plasty in the surgical treatment of recurrent hiatal hernias, prosthetic materials are widely used. When the esophagus is shortened, it is possible to increase its length by creating a gastric stalk (gastroplasty) or fixing the stomach to the anterior abdominal wall (gastropexy). The disadvantage of both methods is the occurring functional impairment. An alternative approach is the formation of a fundoplication wrap in the chest with the closure of the esophageal opening only with its own tissues. To eliminate or prevent the development of gastroesophageal reflux, antireflux reconstruction is an essential component of operations for recurrent hiatal hernias. The option of fundoplication is selected in accordance with the contractility of the esophagus. With normokinesia, circular fundoplication was preferred, with impaired motor skills – free reconstructions.

We considered the views of researchers presented in the modern literature on both the problem as a whole and discussion questions regarding the causes of development, preventive measures, and methods of treating percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy complications, such as clogging of the gastrostomy tube, peristomal wound infections, necrotic fasciitis, pneumoperitoneum, buried bumper syndrome, growth of granulations in the gastrostomy zone, postoperative bleeding and intraparietal hematoma of the gastric wall, traumatic dislocation of the gastrostomy tube, peritonitis after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, peristomal leakage, сolonic fistula, liver injury and abdominal wall metastasis at the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy site.

Comorbidity is one of the factors determining the course of multiple sclerosis. Cardiovascular pathology is one of the most common in the population as a whole, especially in age groups over 50. Several studies showed that arterial hypotension and dyslipidemia affected the course, progression rate, and neuroimaging characteristics of patients with multiple sclerosis. An important issue is the effect of disease modifying therapy on the course of concomitant diseases in patients with multiple sclerosis and the effect of concomitant diseases on the effectiveness and safety of disease modifying therapy. The question of the use of statins in multiple sclerosis remains controversial. This review presents data on vascular comorbidity in multiple sclerosis, including the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular pathology and concomitant vascular diseases in the population of patients with multiple sclerosis. Data on the effect of cardiovascular pathology on the course and treatment of multiple sclerosis were also analyzed.

Review discusses the problem of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants safety in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Bleeding risk assessment while applying anticoagulant therapy, preventive methods for major bleeding (intracranial, gastro-intestinal) during this therapy as well as the strategy of treating patients with bleedings occurring on direct oral anticoagulants intake are discussed in this review. Special attention is paid to the choice of direct oral anticoagulant, the importance of specific antagonist of dabigatran – idarucizumab and indications for its clinical application.

The objective was to determine the possibilities of using desmopressin and conjugated estrogens during primary hip joint arthroplasty in patients receiving renal replacement therapy.

Methods and materials. The material for the study was data on 53 patients with pathology of the hip joint, who underwent primary arthroplasty from 2016 to 2018. All patients were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 (n=23) – patients not suffering from kidney diseases. Group 2 (n=30) – patients receiving renal replacement therapy. Each group was divided into 2 subgroups: 1 subgroup – comparisons, where the combination of desmopressin/conjugated estrogens was not used. 2 subgroup – control, where desmopressin was used at a dosage of 0.4 mg/kg 2 hours before the incision, conjugated estrogens was used at a dosage of 0.6 mg / kg of body weight within 5 days before the operation.

Results. In group 1 (patients not suffering from kidney disease), there was no statistically significant difference between the subgroups. In group 2 (patients receiving hemodialysis), there was a statistically significant difference in the volume of blood loss. Thus, in the subgroup without using additional techniques, the volume of intraoperative blood loss was 769.5±389.3 ml; in the second subgroup (using desmopressin and estrogens) – 479.1±245.2 ml. The difference was statistically significant, p<0.05. The efficiency was 27.9 %.

Conclusion. The additional use of conjugated estrogens at a dose of 0.6 mg/kg of body weight within 5 days before the operation, desmopressin at a dose of 0.4 mg/kg of body weight 2 hours before the incision reduced blood loss by 27.9 %. The use of combination of conjugated estrogens and desmopressin in patients not suffering from kidney disease did not affect the amount of blood loss.

The objective was to analyze and evaluate patients` quality of life before and after resection of brain meningioma.

Methods and materials. We performed study of 31 patients with brain meningioma. The diagnosis of the studied patients was based on clinical and laboratory data, data of radiation and instrumental methods of research. The analysis of patients` quality of life was carried out in the preoperative, early and late postoperative periods. The patient` age ranged from 37 to 65 years; the median age was 57 years. We chose a special questionnaire-EORTC QLQ-C30 to assess quality of life of the studied pre- and postoperative periods. The questionnaire has been tested in many international clinical studies.

Results. In the early postoperative period, the severity of pain increased in the patients under study, nausea and vomiting, constipation occurred more often. However, patients assessed their General health in both early and late postoperative periods better than before the operation. In the late postoperative period, there was a positive dynamics in all scales of the questionnaire.

Conclusion. On examination of various parameters of quality of life before and after surgery in patients with brain meningioma, it was found that surgical intervention led to an improvement in the quality of life of patients.

The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of local injection therapy in patients with lumbosacral pain during medical blockades.

Methods and materials. The results of treatment of compressive lumbosacral radiculoischemia were studied in prospective trial with placebo control. One of the most valuable criteria of medical effectiveness was decrease of pain intensity by visual analog scale and McGill’s questionnaire. 58 patients were included in the study. Comparison between the groups was carried out depending on the treatment: first group was treated with combination of anesthetic with corticosteroids (diprospan), second group – only anesthetic. Rate of pain decrease was assessed during the first day and for 14 days.

Results. In patients with lumbosacral pain treated with combination of anesthetic with corticosteroids, decrease of pain intensity was obtained by visual analog scale and McGill’s questionnaire point. Local corticosteroids use was the most effective with effect in a short time – during the first 24 hours.

Conclusion. Short course of local injection therapy had high effectiveness in patients with lumbosacral pain syndrome.

Introduction. Nowadays, lipid-lowering therapy is considered an essential strategy for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular outcomes, which is confirmed by numerous studies. Nevertheless, researches are often guided by analysis of surrogate endpoints, which becomes not just everyday practice, but also an actual problem. Surrogate endpoints are wellknown sources of bias that can distort the risk-benefit analysis.

The objective of the study was to assess the significance of lipid-lowering therapy with statins in relation to mortality.

Methods and materials. The analysis of prospective controlled trials was carried out with a sample of 2000 patients and more, in which mortality rate was assessed for 2 or more years of statin therapy, as well as systematic literature reviews with a meta-analysis of mortality rates. The search was carried out on websites of the Russian scientific electronic libraries eLibrary and сyberleninka , English-language works – on the PubMed website.

Results. An increase in survival during treatment with statins in case of secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases reached about 2 % after five years’ treatment and was absent after ten years’ treatment. The average increase in life expectancy was only 4.1 days. Primary prevention with statins has not been shown to increase survival significantly.

Conclusion. Effectiveness of lipid-lowering therapy with statins as a part of secondary prevention of cardiovascular outcomes assessed by surrogate endpoints could be greatly exaggerated. A biased approach to selecting surrogate endpoints can lead to incorrect results. Similarly, the encouraging results of therapy with statins in the prevention of cardiovascular mortality may be biased when the effect of statins on other causes of death is not considered. Mortality refers to a universal endpoint that characterizes both the effectiveness and safety of a drug.

Kennedy’s X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy is a rare hereditary lower motoneuron neurodegenerative disease, which is based on the genetic defect of the androgen receptor’s first exon (AR), characterized by an abnormal increase of CAG-repeats. This article describes a clinical case of a patient with complaints about low limb weakness, walking distance shortening to 400–500 meters, coordination disturbances, and moderate polyneuropathy. According to complaints, neurological examination and patient’s family history, a genetic study was performed confirming the proposed diagnosis. Following neurometabolic, vitamin, physical therapy, physiotherapy and acupuncture were performed and the patient’s physical activity increasing and intensity of symptoms reduction was achieved. The article also highlights the features of pathogenesis and the prospects for pathogenetic treatment of this disease.