Vladimir Afanasyevich Karavaev is a surgeon and ophthalmologist, Doctor of Medicine, Honored Ordinary Professor.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on July 8 (20 according to the Gregorian calendar) 1811 in Vyatka (now Kirov), Russia, in a large family of a wealthy merchant.
In 1827, after graduating from the gymnasium, he entered the medical faculty of Kazan University.
In 1831 he graduated with a silver medal and received a diploma of a doctor of the 1st category.
In July 1834, he went to Germany, where he studied at the universities of Berlin and Göttingen.
In the spring of 1838, he defended his dissertation on the topic “Traumatic inflammation of the veins”.
Career
After university, Karavaev moved to St. Petersburg, where from 1832 to 1833 he worked in a military land hospital, and in 1833-1834 – as an assistant at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor.
In Berlin, he met surgeon Nikolai Pirogov. In 1836, the latter offered Karavaev a place in his clinic at the University of Dorpat.
While working at the Pirogov clinic, Karavaev participated in experimental research and passed exams for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
On March 11, 1839, he was appointed resident of the Kronstadt hospital. In 1 year, Karavaev performed 113 operations.
He also developed the technique of puncture of the pericardium and was the first in Russia to successfully carry out this procedure for the treatment of effusive pericarditis.
On December 4, 1840, Karavayev was appointed head of the Department of Surgery of the Faculty of Medicine of the Kyiv University of St. Volodymyr.
In 1841, he joined the organization of the medical faculty of the university, and from April 2, 1843 to 1847 he was its dean.
Karavaev also created a faculty surgical clinic for 20 beds, which was opened on November 1, 1844. He headed it until May 1882.
During Karavaev’s leadership, the surgical clinic received about 76 thousand outpatients and 5.4 thousand inpatients.
In 1844, he founded the first clinic of eye diseases in Ukraine and the Russian Empire. By 1863, about 16 thousand patients were admitted to it.
Karavaev taught surgery and ophthalmology, was engaged in plastic surgery and surgical treatment of eye diseases. On February 18, 1847, he was the first in Ukraine to perform an operation under ether anesthesia.
In 1870, he became one of the initiators of the creation of the Department of Eye Diseases at the University.
Death
Karavaev died of influenza on March 3 (15 according to the Gregorian calendar) in Kyiv.
He was buried at the Baikove cemetery.
Marital Status
In 1845, he married Anna Lukhmanova. The couple had 3 children – daughter Olga and sons Sergei and Dmitry.
