Dmitry Ott

OTT, Dmitry Oskarovich (1855–1929), an eminent, world-renowned gynecologist. Ott was born in the former Kaluga Governorate, where his father had been exiled for participating in the Petrashevsky circle. In 1879 he graduated from the Medical-Surgical Academy, in 1880 he passed his doctoral examinations and went abroad for a 3-year research trip, working not only in gynecology but also in surgery and physiology. In 1884 he defended his dissertation ("On the effect of various liquids used for transfusion on the exsanguinated organism", St. Petersburg) and in the same year, after delivering a trial lecture on the metabolism between mother and fetus, was unanimously elected privat-docent. Soon he received an invitation from the Breslau professor Heidenhain to the position of assistant professor of physiology, but he declined and remained in Russia. Ott began his scientific and practical activity in the women's department of Pelekhin's clinic; soon, at the invitation of Eichwald, he began lecturing on gynecology at the newly opened Elena Institute and in 1889 received the title of honorary professor. In 1893, after the death of I. F. Balandin, he assumed the position of director of the Obstetrical Institute; in 1904, on his initiative and with his active participation (as chairman of the construction commission), a new building of the institute was opened (designed by the famous architect L. Benois), representing one of the finest institutions of its time not only in the USSR, but also in Europe. Ott was the director of the institute for more than 35 years (in his final years as honorary director). Ott left over 100 scientific works which enjoy worldwide fame. Ott began his scientific work while still a student—in his final year he was awarded a silver medal by the Academy's conference for his experimental work "On drainage after laparotomy" (Med. vestn., 1878, no. 51-52). In obstetrics, Ott wrote on antisepsis, delivery assistance, the expansion of obstetric care in rural areas, cesarean section, the significance of the uterine suture, and many other topics. Ott was a principled proponent of prophylactic perineotomy during childbirth. Deserving of attention is his experimental work, supported by clinical data, on ectopic pregnancy, in which he sought to clarify the origin of hemorrhages into the abdominal cavity. The greater part of Ott's works is devoted to gynecology.

As early as 1879, during his study of the physiological manifestations of the sexual life of peasant women in Kaluga Governorate, he noted the influence of the environment, material conditions, and physical labor on sexual development (journal Zdorovye, 1879, no. 113, 117–119). These questions were subsequently studied by Ott and led him to establish the periodicity of physiological functions in the female organism (report at the X International Congress in Berlin, Nouv. arch. d'obst. et de gynecol., 1890, p. 502). Much attention was devoted by Ott to operative gynecology (Ott was a brilliant surgeon, possessed exceptional technique, and demonstrated his methods at international congresses in Western Europe and America); this includes works on preoperative preparation and postoperative care, technical details, the proposal of new operations, and chiefly the development of the vaginal method, which he mastered to perfection. Ott also touched upon cancer—he attached importance to biopsy and was opposed to extended abdominal operations. Ott dedicated a number of works to conservative therapy; Ott traveled to Stockholm to Thure-Brandt to study massage, and repeatedly spoke out against the excessive fascination with and expansion of indications for operations. Ott was also a talented inventor: he proposed a number of inventions—a needle holder, an instrument for fixing a rubber tourniquet (during hysteromyotomia), and devices for illuminating the operational field during vaginal operations. He developed diagnostic methods and proposed his own method for determining tubal patency. Shortly before the imperialist war, he wrote a major manual, Operative Gynecology (St. Petersburg, 1914). Ott took an active part in scientific and public life. He was repeatedly elected chairman of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Society in Leningrad and was an honorary member of many Russian and foreign scientific societies. In his later years he was elected an honorary member of the American Gynecological Association. Ott organized the international congress in St. Petersburg and laid the foundation for the All-Union Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, remaining the permanent chairman of its board until his death.

Ott was a brilliant teacher, is the mentor of many hundreds of physicians, created his own school, many representatives of which now occupy university chairs. He has a number of articles on teaching issues (including: "The tasks of higher medical teaching and the significance of the State Clinical Obstetrical-Gynecological Institute in the cause of maternal and infant welfare", Leningrad, 1925).