DOI: 10.17720/2409-5834.v3.1.2016.02q
V.I. Borodulin1, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor
A.V. Topolyanskiy2, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor
1 N.A. Semashko National Public Health Research Institute, Moscow (Russian Federation);
2The Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry named after A.I. Evdokimov,
The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow (Russian Federation)
The article continues this journal’s discourse on two issues: the periodization of the history of cardiology in the Soviet Union, and the impact of cardiac surgery on establishing cardiology as an independent scientific discipline. Dividing the development of cardiology in the USSR into three periods is proposed. The first period relates to the first half of the 20th century, when cardiology evolved as a major area of research as part of the clinical practice of internal medicine. The founders of Soviet cardiology were D.D. Pletnev, G.F. Lang, N.D. Strazhesko, S.S. Zimnitsky and V.F. Zelenin. Physicians and surgeons studied issues of cardiovascular system pathology in parallel – independently of each other. The second period – the1950–1960s – is characterized by the separation of cardiology from clinical practice of internal medicine as an independent scientific discipline. The formal indicators of institutionalization and its most important achievements are examined. The leader of сardiology at the time was A.L. Myasnikov. Cardiac surgery’s role as one of the important factors that influenced the formation of cardiology in this period is demonstrated. The third period – the 1970–1980s – marked the emergence of cardiology as an independent medical profession, the creation of a system of cardiac care across the country and the Cardiology Research Center in Moscow as its scientific and methodological center. These changes are associated with E.I. Chazov. The successful development of surgical treatment for diseases of the heart and blood vessels continued; heart defects, coronary artery disease and cardiac arrhythmias became shared problems for therapists, cardiologists and surgeons. Accordingly, the main composition of patients in specialized departments of clinics and city hospitals changed. The article does not deal with further changes in cardiology in the 1990s.
Keywords: history of medicine, cardiology, cardiac surgery, periods in the history of cardiology
