The pioneer of Russian transplantology and the founder of liver radiosurgery, Anatoly Granov is known all over the world as the author of the method of chemotherapy-free cancer treatment.
The method developed by scientist and academician Anatoly Granov (1932-2017) from St. Petersburg to treat cancer without poisoning the body with chemotherapy strengthened the credibility of Russian science in this country and in the world. Anatoly Granov invented his own method of treating liver cancer through the vessels (endovascular method), by using the tumor’s property to create additional blood vessels for its own blood supply.
Professor Anatoly Granov extensively used the latest achievements in physics, chemistry, and radio electronics for the purposes of practical surgery and therapy. That is why many of his colleagues consider the professor to be the creator of a new direction in medical science – the so called translational medicine.
In 1966, for the first time in the world, Anatoly Granov published a research on the introduction of an oil contrast medium into the portal vein for the purpose of diagnosing liver tumors. An expert in the field of surgical hepatology, he started applying oily radiopaque substances in the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases. The professor specialized in the treatment of focal, especially malignant, liver damages.
Vladimir Moiseenko, the director of the St. Petersburg Oncology Center, believes that "Anatoly Granov is a whole epoch: a bright surgeon who was the first in Russia to perform liver transplantation and the founder of liver radiosurgery. With his efforts thousands of lives were saved by Anatoly Granov personally, and in the view of wide dissemination of his methods – even dozens of thousands”.
"It is not enough to transplant an organ, it is necessary to treat the patient afterwards, and this is an organizational rather than a surgical skill. A well-coordinated work of a whole team of doctors is required for that, and Anatoly Mikhailovich had a mastery in it too” – Professor Moiseenko said.

He also emphasizes that Anatoly Granov was the founder of radiological science in Russia. He was the first in this country to install a cyclotron in the Radiology and Surgical Technologies Center, where isotope medications were made for the treatment of both oncological and non-tumor diseases. "Now such technologies have spread all over Russia, but Anatoly Granov was the first one," - Moiseyenko states.
According to the rector of the 1st Pavlov Leningrad Medical Institute, Sergei Bagnenko, “In the early 1980s he was the first in Leningrad (Petersburg) to perform kidney transplantation, and in the mid 1990s he was the first in Russia to develop and perform liver transplantation," Sergei Bagnenko said. Anatoly Granov was his predecessor as the rector in 1966-1977.
According to Dr. Bagnenko, Anatoly Granov can be justly considered “the father of Russian transplantology. Kidney and liver transplantations introduced by Anatoly Granov are performed on a routine basis nowadays - 100 transplantations per year in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, and Novosibirsk.
Anatoly Granov, the founder and head of the Russian Scientific Center for Radiology and Surgical Technologies for many years, passed away after a severe long illness on May 12, 2017. He was laid to rest at the Serafimovsky Cemetery in St. Petersburg.