Viktor Ivanovich
Struchkov
1907-1988
Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov was the Head of the Department of General Surgery of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute, Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, the Hero of Socialist Labor. He was born in the city of Ryazhsk, now the Ryazan region, in a peasant family. In 1931 he graduated from the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. In 1931-1932 he served in the Red Army. Since 1932 he worked as a resident surgeon, then the head of the surgical department at the Voskresenskaya Interdistrict Hospital of the Moscow region. Since July 1941, he was drafted into the Red Army. At first, he worked in the medical sanitary battalion of the rifle division as a leading surgeon, then as a chief inspector – a specialist doctor of the Field Evacuation Points of the 21st Army on the Bryansk and Southwestern Fronts. Since July 1942 he was an Army surgeon of the 13th Army on the Bryansk and 1st Ukrainian fronts. He was the participant of the Smolensk Defensive Battle, the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad defensive operation, the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of the Dnieper, the Proskurov-Chernivtsi, Lviv-Sandomierz, Vistula-Oder, Berlin, Prague offensive operations. Questions of military field surgery became the topic of Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov’s PhD thesis “Open pneumothorax in the military and army area during defensive and offensive operations” (1946), as well as his doctoral dissertation “Surgical specialized assistance in the active army during the offensive” (1949). Since 1946 Lieutenant Colonel of the medical service Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov was in reserve, worked as an assistant at a hospital surgical clinic, then became an associate professor of the Department of Operative Surgery. Since 1951 – the Professor, and since 1953 – the Head of the Department of General Surgery of the 1st Moscow Medical Institute, at the same time (1949-1965) he was the chief surgeon of the Ministry of Health of the USSR. The works of Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov of the post-war period are devoted to the development of problems of surgery of the lungs and pleura, abdominal organs, purulent surgery, the use of endoscopic examination. The development of problems of surgery of the thoracic cavity was started by Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov back in the years of the war (open pneumothorax, wounds of blood vessels). In the future, he developed a clinical classification of suppurative lung diseases, indications and contraindications for lung surgery, methods of treatment of bronchial stump, non-surgical treatment of acute lung abscesses. In 1965 he was elected a full member (academician) of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. For the development and introduction into medical practice of original methods of surgical treatment of lung diseases, the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (together with other scientists) was awarded the Lenin Prize. Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov and his staff also worked on the problems of private surgery, traumatology, anesthesia, blood transfusion and enzymology. Under his leadership, the pulmonary artery systems were probed in the clinic, bronchospirometry was performed, acid-base balance was studied. The technique of “complex bronchological rehabilitation” developed in the clinic provided successful preoperative preparation. The department actively studied the issues of traumatic brain injury, treatment of fractures of tubular bones, as well as sepsis, thrombophlebitis, the use of antibiotics in purulent surgery. In total, Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov published over 400 scientific papers, including 33 monographs. His textbook “General Surgery”, which has gone through five editions and was awarded the USSR State Prize, has been translated into many foreign languages. He created a large school of surgeons (more than 45 doctors and 140 candidates of medical sciences).
Address: Moscow, Yauzskaya str., 11/6, p. 1
