Professor Monastyrski N.D. (1847-1888): One of the Forgotten Pioneers of Biliary Surgery.

Today, the ingenious and untimely deceased surgeon Monastyrski's name is almost lost in the history of medicine and means little, if anything, to young surgeons. Monastyrski Nestor Dmitrievich was born in 1847 in Czerniowce and graduated from the medical faculty of the University of Vienna. Deeply inspired by the stars of European medicine and surgery: Billroth, Kaposi, Mikulicz, he became a brilliant surgeon and teacher. Monastyrski performed the first gastroenterostomy in Russia and was one of the pioneers of the aseptic method in Russia. In May 1887 he performed the historical first cholecystojejunostomy in the world. In 1888, exhausted by a tumor of the right kidney, Monastyrski insisted on surgery which resulted in his death several hours later. The department of surgery which was founded by Monastyrski N.D. in the Clinical Institute of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (today - North-Western State Medical Academy named after I.I. Mechnikov) was named after him.