Preface

Leonid P. Churilov, Vladimir J. Utekhin, Yury I. Stroyev,

This textbook was written by the authors on the basis of their forty-five years of personal clinical and thirty years of pathophysiological experience. Admittedly, in the context of the tremendous amount of knowledge yet to be discovered, it is not a very long term.

St. Petersburg was founded more than three centuries ago, and today it is a modern city where students from many countries come to study an array of disciplines, including Medicine.

The field of Medicine has become international, and there is no national Medicine, as well as there is no national Mathematics or national Physics. Medicine is based on international laws of natural sciences. Every time a medical doctor checks the arterial blood pressure from one of his or her patients, this doctor (in any country of the world) applies the achievements of different national medical schools. This is plain medical fact, because the sphygmomanometer devise for this purpose was invented by an Italian doctor Scipione Riva-Rocci (1863-1937), the stethoscope used for this procedure was invented by a French physician René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec (1781-1826) and the physiological phenomenon which produces the specific sounds heard for arterial blood pressure check was discovered by a Russian surgeon Nicolai Sergeievich Korotkov (1874-1920).

So, in a simple medical procedure, the achievements of three different national medical schools are combined, and the same principle applies in other areas of medicine. After the years of medical teaching, practice and research in Russia, Finland, USA, Great Britain, Irish Republic, Romania, Japan, China, Sweden and few other countries, with experience of having medical and dentistry students from almost 60 different states, we do believe that the principles of medical education are similar all over the world.

In our current teaching, at the Medical School of St. Petersburg State University, we subscribe to the principles of early contact with patients, full integration between basic sciences and practical medicine, and the interpretive interdisciplinary approach which combines the concepts and findings taken from different medical disciplines.

Although the Science of Medicine is similar worldwide, the sphere of Health Care still is divided with national borders and has pretty much of specifics in every country, with their different legislations, standards, traditions, mentality and cultures. Even in the epoch of globalization this should be taken in account by international medical students and medical doctors migrating for employment. The object, which is called “white thrombus” on continental side of English Channel, is at the same time called “platelet plug” in Britain and all its former colonies. It does not mean that medical doctors living on a particular shore of the sea are more (or less) sophisticated. But it means difference in their thesaurus and their traditions. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The main foundation for clinical thinking is a clinical language. But this great prerequisite of medical professionalism is not identical in different countries and even in the same country, but of various specialties and occupations of medicine.

In order to improve the performance of international medical students and make the tasks of the guest physicians easier, we have composed this textbook both for Russian and Foreign readers, persuading the goal to acquire medical skills.

Three centuries ago, the Emperor of Russia, Peter the Great, had founded the city of St. Petersburg and – a bit later – also established our University (1724). His idea was to create a place that was suitable for hybridization and interaction between the Russian spirit and European culture. That is why today, St.Petersburg is probably the right place to study Medicine. Here you can combine the achievements of Russian and European cultures, with Russian and International medicine. The University puts together the intellectual efforts and creative potential of many people of diverse ethnic origin. In our School languages contribute the greater part of M.D. Programme curriculum, than anywhere else. The authors wish you success on your way to medical professionalism and great achievements in your future career of physician. In order to accomplish this goal modern medical doctor has to be a multilingual person. Our textbook is composed of several issues, dedicated to professional language used in Basic and Clinical Medicine. First issue is based on Pathophysiology and recommended for studies in 4^th or 5^th term of M.D. Programme, along with Pathology. Let the following words of famous English physician Sir William Whitney Gull (1816 – 1890), accompany you on your way:

“The road to a clinic goes through the pathologic museum and not through the apothecary's shop”.

Authors