Professor Eduard Nikitich Vantsyan (1921–1989) (on the 105th anniversary of his birth)

A prominent Soviet surgeon, scientist and teacher, one of the pioneers of esophageal and diaphragmatic surgery in the USSR, founder of the famous Moscow school of thoracoabdominal surgeons, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1975), laureate of the USSR State Prize, Doctor of Medical Sciences (1964), Professor (1965) Eduard Nikitich Vantsyan was born on September 13, 1921 in Tbilisi to a doctor’s family. In 1939, he entered the 1^st Moscow Medical Institute, then transferred to the Tbilisi Medical Institute, from which he graduated in the summer of 1943. After receiving his diploma, he served in various medical positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs hospital, and after demobilization in 1946, he worked as a surgeon in the emergency hospital, then as a resident in the surgical department of the Transcaucasian District Military Hospital. In 1951, E. N. Vantsyan entered graduate school at the Department of Faculty Surgery of the Pediatric Faculty of the 2nd MMI and in 1954, defended his candidate’s dissertation, «Bilateral Operative Pneumothorax». In 1958, he transferred to the position of assistant Professor at the Department of Hospital Surgery at the 1^st MMI. In 1963, he was appointed head of the esophagus and stomach surgery department at the All-Union Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Surgery, and from 1969, he served as deputy Director for research at the same Institute. In 1964, he defended his doctoral dissertation «Clinical and Surgical Treatment of Esophageal Diverticula». Eduard Nikitich’s primary research interests included neuromuscular diseases of the esophagus, esophageal hernias, gastroesophageal reflux disease, esophageal diverticula, esophageal tracheal fistulas, benign tumors and esophageal cancer, chemical burn strictures of the esophagus, and diseases of the operated and artificial esophagus. E. N. Vantsyan founded a significant Moscow school of thoracoabdominal surgeons; under his supervision, 26 candidate’s and 9 doctoral dissertations were defended. He was the author and co-author of approximately 170 scientific and practical works, including nine monographs and manuals. Eduard Nikitich was a member of the Presidium of the Scientific Medical Council of the USSR Ministry of Health, was elected to the Board of the All-Union Scientific Society of Surgeons, served as Deputy Chairman of the Surgical Society of Moscow and the Moscow Region, was Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the journal «Surgery», was elected a member of the International Society of Surgeons, and was an honorary member of the surgical societies of the GDR and Cuba. Professor E. N. Vantsyan died tragically in a car accident on February 17, 1989, and was buried at the Babushkinskoye Cemetery in Moscow

1. Shakhbanov M. E., Kosenkov A. N., Shestakov A. L. et al. Eduard Nikitich Vantsyan: 101 years since his birth. Surgery. Journal named after N. I. Pirogov. 2023;(4):89–94. (In Russ.).

2. Eduard Nikitich Vantsyan (on his 60th birthday). Grekov’s Bulletin of Surgery. 1981;(9):124–125. (In Russ.).

3. Bogopolsky P. M., Dzemeshkevich S. L. On the anniversary of Eduard Nikitich Vantsyan. Clinical and Experimental Surgery. Journal named after Academician B. V. Petrovsky. 2022;10(1):7–9. (In Russ.)

4. Vantsyan E. N., Skobelkin O. K. Reconstructive surgery of the esophagus using the stomach. Tashkent: Medicine, 1975. 174 p. (In Russ.).

5. Gerke A. A., Lipko A., Vantsyan E. N., Dvali G. Hernias of the esophageal opening of the diaphragm: Clinic, diagnostics, treatment. Tbilisi: Sabchota Sakartvelo, 1974. 168 p. (In Russ.).

6. Petrovsky B. V., Vantsyan E. N. Esophageal diverticula. Moscow: Medicine, 1968. 184 p. (In Russ.).

7. Vantsyan E. N., Toshchakov R. A. Treatment of burns and cicatricial stenosis of the esophagus. M.: Medicine, 1971. 260 p. (In Russ.).