About us

In 1971, according to the order of the rector of the Kharkiv Medical Institute, a course of neurosurgery was opened at the Department of Nervous Diseases (Head of the Department – Prof. E Dubenko). First teachers were Associate Professor Vitaliy Sipitiy and Assistant Professor Mykola Masalitin. The basis of the course was the neurosurgical department of the 15th city clinical hospital.
In 1979, the neurosurgical department was opened on the basis of the 2nd city clinical hospital, which included a course in neurosurgery, where already worked assistants M. Masalitin, A. Veshtak, M. Posokhov, V. Piatykop.
In 1990, the order of the rector of KhMI Academician A.Ya. Tsyganenko about the opening of the Department of Neurosurgery issued. Its clinical base was the neurosurgical clinic of the Kharkiv Regional Clinical Hospital with 70 beds, organized in 1986.
The first head of the department was Vitaliy Sipitiy – Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Chairman of the Kharkiv Association of Neurosurgeons. The clinical base of the department is the interregional specialized neurosurgical center, located in the neurosurgical department of Kharkiv Regional Hospital. The center is equipped with operating optics, ultrasonic, cryosurgical, endoscopic devices and equipment, nuclear magnetic tomography, introduced modern computer technology.
Professor V.I. Sipitiy have prepared the teaching staff of the department: associate professors Masalitin Mykola, Posokhov Mykola, Pyatikop Volodymyr; Candidates of Medical Sciences: Chmut Viktor, Storchak Oleh, Kutovy Ihor, Babalyan Yuriy, Tsygankov Oleksandr; assistants: Veshtak Anatoliy, Gunko Bohdan, Svyridenko Vitaliy, Vorobyov Volodymyr, Serhienko Yuliya.
From 01.07.2010 the department is headed by Dr. Med. Sciences, Professor Volodymyr Pyatikop, author of more than 200 scientific papers and educational and methodological recommendations, 13 Patents of Ukraine.
At present, the department consists of 1 doctor of medical sciences, 4 candidates of medical sciences, including 3 associate professors, 4 assistants, 1 graduate student.

Educational and pedagogical work is to prepare 5th year students of medical faculties in the “neurosurgery” disciplin; 6th year students of medical faculties i in the discipline “Topical issues of neurosurgery”; English-speaking 5th year students in the discipline of “Neurosurgery”; 4th year students of the Faculty of Dentistry the disciplines of Neurostomatology and Neurosurgery; clinical residents and interns in the discipline of “Neurosurgery”.
The teaching activity for neurosurgeons is carried out within the cycles of thematic improvement at the Educational and Scientific Institute of Postgraduate Education of KhNMU.
Three manuals, more than 20 methodical developments in neurosurgery for students and interns have been prepared.
Throughout its existence, the department has trained both students and interns neurosurgeons. In total, more than 50 interns have been trained at the department and working in different neurosurgical departments in Ukraine and abroad. Since 2014, the department has training courses for physicians not only for neurosurgeons but for neurologists, family doctors, orthopedists-traumatologists. Every year the department has 3-4 courses of thematic improvement of doctors.

Areas of research
The main directions of scientific work of the department are the development of bioengineering methods for the treatment of patients with traumatic nervous system injuries, neurodegenerative diseases, consequences of cerebral strokes, brain tumors using stem cells and their derivatives.
The use of cryodestruction techniques for the treatment of brain tumors, neurodegenerative diseases is actively carried out. The mechanisms of neuroinflammation due to hemorrhagic strokes are being studied. The introduction of virtual and augmented reality technologies into clinical and scientific work is also actively carried out.
The most significant scientific research of the department is summarized in 4 monographs, 28 copyright certificates and patents for inventions, more than 300 scientific publications, 30 of which have been published in foreign journals and collections of papers of European and international congresses. The Department of Neurosurgery cooperates with a number of Ukrainian international societies and associations in neurosurgery, is an active participant in annual world, European, international, Ukrainian congresses, conferences and conferences. Employees of the department systematically publish the results of scientific achievements in foreign and domestic publications included in international abstract and citation databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, etc.), and actively undergo internships in leading clinics around the world.
For the last 5 years 3 PhD dissertations have been defended at the department, currently 2 doctoral and 3 PhD dissertations are being completed. For the last 9 years the department has been performing scientific work by state order.
The VI Congress of Neurosurgeons of Ukraine was held at the initiative of the department in 2017.

The clinical bases of the department are the Regional Clinical Hospital and the Military Medical Clinical Center of the northern region.
Employees of the department headed by prof. Pyatikop V. conduct clinical examinations and rounds, consultations of patients in the clinic, clinical and pathological conferences. Employees of the department are also on duty at the Kharkiv Territorial Center for Emergency Care and Disaster Medicine and perform complex surgical interventions in the central district hospitals of the Kharkiv region during emergency visits. They also take part in the organization of the monthly conference “Day of the Neurosurgeon”.

The latest methods of diagnosis and treatment are constantly introduced into clinical practice, annually the staff of the department and clinic performs about 300 neurosurgical operations and 3600 consultations for the population of Kharkiv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Poltava regions.

The department takes an active part in the treatment of victims in the anti-terrorist operation zone. The Neurosurgical Department of the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Northern Region of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is the clinical base of the department, where the staff of the department for 2014-2021 treated more than 200 wounded.
The main directions of medical work of the department: neurooncology, neurotraumatology, vascular neurosurgery, neurosurgery of degenerative lesions of the spine, stereotactic and functional neurosurgery.

Employees of the department annually take part in All-Ukrainian and International conferences and symposiums, in particular the European association neurosurgical societies congresses. In 2020, the work of the staff of the department received the award for “Best Poster Report” at the Bypass 2020 – Anniversary symposium in Zurich (Switzerland).
In addition, the staff of the department constantly participates in internships abroad (Switzerland, USA, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany).
Employees of the department participate in competitions for scientific grants and receive them. Thus, in 2018 the young scientist of the Department of Neurosurgery received a grant to participate in The USERN Congress and USERN Prize Awarding Festival, which took place in Reggio Calabria (Italy), and in 2020 grant for International basic neurosurgical course training courses in Turkey.

The department provides the initial three-year specialization of interns in the specialty “Neurosurgery”.
Postgraduate training of doctors is carried out annually in cycles of thematic improvement (TU): TU “Modern methods of treatment of patients with cerebrovascular diseases”, TU “Modern methods of treatment of patients with extrapyramidal diseases”, TU “Modern methods of treatment of patients with traumatic brain injury and its consequences”.