With so many medical specialties, it’s important to understand what type of specialist to see when trying to get diagnosed for a medical condition. A neurosurgeon and a neurologist both specialize in the treatment of medical problems affecting the central nervous system. The central nervous system controls most of the functions of the body and mind, consisting of the brain and spinal cord.
WHAT IS A NEUROLOGIST?
A neurologist treats diseases and conditions of the brain and nervous system, but they do not perform surgery. Some of the common conditions they treat include headaches, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, sleep disorders, pain, brain tumors, peripheral nerve disorders, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Some neurologists focus on a subspecialty like neurophysiology, pediatric neurology, epilepsy, vascular neurology, behavioral neurology, or others.
WHAT IS A NEUROSURGEON?
One common myth is that neurosurgeons are just brain surgeons. However, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), they typically spend a lot more time on spine conditions and procedures than brain conditions and procedures. Common conditions neurosurgeons treat are back pain, neck pain, sciatica, herniated disks, degenerative diseases of the spine, cerebrovascular disorders, brain and spinal tumors, and stroke. In addition, since the nervous system extends from your brain to your spine and your nerves branch out into your entire body, they treat conditions that present symptoms in one part of your body that are actually related to a problem in the central nervous system. For example, carpal tunnel symptoms are sometimes related to a problem in your cervical spine (neck area).
Although they can perform very complex surgeries, neurosurgeons typically use non-operative treatment plans before performing surgery. If surgery is required, minimally invasive techniques are used whenever possible. Neurosurgeons are also on call for emergency room physicians when a patient has trauma involving the brain and spinal cord.
DEGREE AND TRAINING
Neurologists undergo four years of pre-medical education at a college or university, four years of medical school resulting in an MD or DO degree, one year of internship, and at least three years of specialty training in a neurology residence program. Some neurologists elect to take additional training in an area of interest such as stroke, movement disorders, or sleep medicine.
A neurosurgeon’s training is the longest training period of any medical specialty. In addition to four years of pre-medical education, four years of medical school, and a year of internship, their residency is five to seven years. After that, many pursue a fellowship to specialize in an area such as spine, pediatric neurosurgery, or peripheral nerve surgery.
FINDING THE RIGHT SPECIALIST
There is some overlap between these two types of specialists and the conditions they treat. Sometimes these doctors work collaboratively; a neurologist can refer their patients to a neurosurgeon when surgery is required (such as for a brain tumor) and then the patient returns to the neurologist for long-term management. If you have a condition or symptoms that you think require a brain and spine specialist, ask your primary care physician about which type of specialist to see. Our multidisciplinary team of physicians at The Center are equipped with the latest technologies and have the experience to treat any injury or condition that affects your musculoskeletal system.
Neurosurgeon at The Center, Dr. Ray Tien, explains the differences between a neurosurgeon and a neurologist in the video below.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
“I think one of the common misperceptions about neurosurgery is that our professions share some similarities with neurology.
“The difference is that neurosurgeons deal with surgical issues related to the brain and spine, whereas neurologists often deal more with nonsurgical, degenerative issues related to neurological problems. So for instance, Alzheimer’s disease – it’s not a medical condition that a neurosurgeon can treat, but neurologists will evaluate those types of conditions.
“Whereas herniated discs in the lumbar spine, that’s typically not a condition that a neurologist can treat. It usually falls within the neurosurgical profession.”
What Is a Neurosurgeon? What They Do, When to See One, and What to Expect
Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors
Medically Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on June 23, 2021
In this Article
What Does a Neurosurgeon Do?
Education and Training
Reasons to See a Neurosurgeon
Neurosurgeons are medical doctors that diagnose and treat conditions related to the brain, spine, and other parts of your nervous system. They differ from neurologists in that they’re specifically trained and certified in the use of surgical treatments, whereas neurologists focus on other forms of treatment.
Because neurosurgeons are experts in the human nervous system, they also perform a wide variety of duties in addition to surgery. For instance, other health specialists such as emergency room doctors and neurologists often consult with neurosurgeons regarding their cases. Neurosurgeons also help evaluate and rehabilitate people with neurological conditions.
What Does a Neurosurgeon Do?
There’s a myth that neurosurgeons spend all of their time in surgery. In reality, they have many other responsibilities. It can be hard to predict exactly what an appointment with a neurosurgeon will involve.
As some of the most experienced and highly trained specialists in medicine, neurosurgeons spend a great deal of time consulting with other doctors about various cases. They also have their own roster of cases, each with unique challenges. Not all of these cases will need surgery, though many likely will.
Neurosurgeons treat people with a range of neurological issues, such as:
Lower back pain
Peripheral nervous system disorders (issues with nerves that carry messages to and from the brain)
Brain tumors
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Neurosurgeons use state-of-the-art imaging technologies to find the source of the problem. These include:
Magnetoencephalography (MEG scan), used to find the source of seizures
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), used to create detailed pictures of the inside of the body
Positron emission tomography (PET scan), often used to search for cancer
Computed tomography (CT scan), a test that shows more detail than a standard X-ray
Once they know the source of the problem, your neurosurgeon can find a method to treat it effectively.
Education and Training
Neurosurgeons have one of the longest training periods of any doctor. Their training consists of:
Four years of medical school
A one-year internship
Five to seven years of residency
Often an additional year studying a subspecialty like pediatric neurosurgery
Additionally, future neurosurgeons must receive certification from the American Board of Neurological Surgery before they’re allowed to practice. Board certification requires an extensive period of both written and oral examination.
Reasons to See a Neurosurgeon
There are many reasons why you might see a neurosurgeon. They include:
Meningitis
This is a serious infection of the outer part of your brain or spinal cord. Its symptoms are similar to those of a fever, but they last longer and are more severe. The specific surgical treatment needed for meningitis will depend on whether the infection is viral or bacterial.
Spinal disk herniation
Spinal disks are cushions that sit between your vertebrae. They prevent the bones of your back from rubbing against each other, which causes pain. Herniation occurs when the inner material of a disk swells and pushes through the outer membrane. Serious discomfort can result if spinal disks flatten or rupture. Most surgeries to treat spinal hernias are relatively quick operations that can be done in a single day.
Parkinson’s disease
This condition affects the part of your brain that controls movement. It can cause tremors, balance issues, and other problems. Most people with Parkinson’s disease are treated with medication, but some cases are more complicated. When the disease severely affects your quality of life, a neurosurgeon can implant an electrode that stimulates your brain and provides relief from symptoms.
Epilepsy
This central nervous system disorder causes seizures. There are several surgical procedures that neurosurgeons can use to treat epilepsy, such as laser ablation surgery (removing material via a laser) that targets specific lesions in the brain that cause seizures.
World-famous neurosurgeon Albert Sufianov - 55
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March 7, Chief Physician of the Federal Center for Neurosurgery in Tyumen, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, Honorary Citizen of Tyumen and Vikhorevka, Deputy of the Tyumen Regional Duma, Head Department of Neurosurgery, First Moscow State Medical University. I.M. Sechenov Albert Akramovich Sufianov celebrates its anniversary.
A unique neurosurgeon-practitioner, a very efficient, modern and hard-working leader and organizer, a scientist-developer, who occupies a leading position not only in Russia, but also in the world. Saved thousands of human lives. His diligence is called fantastic, and many neurosurgeons of the world try to repeat his author's unique techniques. Albert Akramovich himself lives by the principle: “The patient comes first, everything else is secondary. Even my own life."
Many people know about him, but not everyone knows how the professional path of the famous neurosurgeon developed.
Albert Akramovich was born on March 7, 1965 in Vikhorevka, Irkutsk Region. He graduated from school with a gold medal, Irkutsk Medical Institute - with honors. After completing residency in neurosurgery, he was trained in Japan and Germany, learned foreign languages. He defended his doctoral dissertation on endoscopic neurosurgery, becoming its founder in Russia. At 1996 created the first department of pediatric neurosurgery in Eastern Siberia. Actively trained in the best neurosurgical clinics in the USA, China, Austria, Italy and other countries.
In 2009, he was invited by the Government of the Russian Federation to Tyumen to lead the construction of the Federal Center for Neurosurgery of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation as part of a national project. In the shortest possible time, he completed the construction, and in 2010 he headed the center as the head doctor. In order to fulfill the first state order (3000 operations), he worked together with the staff of the FTS in the first year of the clinic's operation - almost around the clock. Today, the FCN (Tyumen) is an internationally recognized expert medical institution with unique world-class equipment and technologies. Due to the total introduction of minimally invasive technologies, including in neurooncology, this is one of the most intensively working centers of neurosurgery in the world: 4000 operations per year for 95 beds. Over 800 operations of the highest complexity are annually performed personally by Albert Akramovich Sufianov, dozens of them are performed on "refusal" patients. In 2017, Albert Akramovich performed the first intrauterine endoscopic surgery in Russia for fetal hydrocephalus.
The professor implemented his own training system for neurosurgeons with unique 3D laboratories. In 2016, for the first time in the 260-year history of the First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), the Department of Neurosurgery was established with a clinical base in Tyumen, and Professor Sufianov was entrusted to head it. Today, the FCN is the leader in Russia in terms of the number and level of educational international neurosurgical events (over 15 annually). Over 1200 doctors from 36 countries of the world have been trained for 7 years.
Albert Sufianov is the only Russian full member of the World Academy of Neurosurgeons, which unites only 100 leading neurosurgeons of the world. In 2018, he was elected head of the educational committee of the Asian Congress of Neurosurgeons (unites neurosurgeons from 40 countries with 2/3 of the world's population), became the first ever world leader from Russia in neurosurgical education. Since 2019 - Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Society of Neurosurgeons, as well as UNESCO Ambassador for the Digital Anatomy Project from Eastern Europe and Russia, Honorary Professor of Harbin University. He regularly holds master classes in leading world centers (Switzerland, Japan, USA, Germany and other countries). The author's developments of the professor are implemented by leading Russian and foreign companies.
With his activities, Albert Sufianov reversed not only the flow of patients in neurosurgery - not from Russia abroad, but from abroad to Russia, but also the drain of "young brains" in neurosurgery. Today, residents and graduate students from abroad go to Russia, to Siberia, to study and do science, and not vice versa. The principle of a social lift for talented Russian students is being implemented. Ideologist and organizer of the International Student Olympiad in Neurosurgery, the winners of which get the opportunity to study and engage in scientific activities at Sechenov University through public grants, which is very important for Russia today. In a short time Sufianov A.A. brought Tyumen to the ranks of the most recognizable neurosurgical cities in the world, for which he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Tyumen. November 27, 2018 President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin personally awarded Professor A.A. Sufianov with the sign "Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation".
Albert Akramovich is a good family man, husband, father and already twice grandfather.
Happy Anniversary, dear Albert Akramovich! The staff of the Federal Center for Neurosurgery in Tyumen congratulates you and wishes you the best of health and further professional success. We are proud of you!
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A unique neurosurgeon-practitioner, a very efficient, modern and hard-working leader and organizer, a scientist-developer, who occupies a leading position not only in Russia, but also in the world. Saved thousands of human lives. His diligence is called fantastic, and many neurosurgeons of the world try to repeat his author's unique techniques. Albert Akramovich himself lives by the principle: “The patient comes first, everything else is secondary. Even my own life."
Many people know about him, but not everyone knows how the professional path of the famous neurosurgeon developed.
Albert Akramovich was born on March 7, 1965 in Vikhorevka, Irkutsk Region. He graduated from school with a gold medal, Irkutsk Medical Institute - with honors. After completing residency in neurosurgery, he was trained in Japan and Germany, learned foreign languages. He defended his doctoral dissertation on endoscopic neurosurgery, becoming its founder in Russia. At 1996 created the first department of pediatric neurosurgery in Eastern Siberia. Actively trained in the best neurosurgical clinics in the USA, China, Austria, Italy and other countries.
In 2009, he was invited by the Government of the Russian Federation to Tyumen to lead the construction of the Federal Center for Neurosurgery of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation as part of a national project. In the shortest possible time, he completed the construction, and in 2010 he headed the center as the head doctor. In order to fulfill the first state order (3000 operations), he worked together with the staff of the FTS in the first year of the clinic's operation - almost around the clock. Today, the FCN (Tyumen) is an internationally recognized expert medical institution with unique world-class equipment and technologies. Due to the total introduction of minimally invasive technologies, including in neurooncology, this is one of the most intensively working centers of neurosurgery in the world: 4000 operations per year for 95 beds. Over 800 operations of the highest complexity are annually performed personally by Albert Akramovich Sufianov, dozens of them are performed on "refusal" patients. In 2017, Albert Akramovich performed the first intrauterine endoscopic surgery in Russia for fetal hydrocephalus.
The professor implemented his own training system for neurosurgeons with unique 3D laboratories. In 2016, for the first time in the 260-year history of the First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), the Department of Neurosurgery was established with a clinical base in Tyumen, and Professor Sufianov was entrusted to head it. Today, the FCN is the leader in Russia in terms of the number and level of educational international neurosurgical events (over 15 annually). Over 1200 doctors from 36 countries of the world have been trained for 7 years.
Albert Sufianov is the only Russian full member of the World Academy of Neurosurgeons, which unites only 100 leading neurosurgeons of the world. In 2018, he was elected head of the educational committee of the Asian Congress of Neurosurgeons (unites neurosurgeons from 40 countries with 2/3 of the world's population), became the first ever world leader from Russia in neurosurgical education. Since 2019 - Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Society of Neurosurgeons, as well as UNESCO Ambassador for the Digital Anatomy Project from Eastern Europe and Russia, Honorary Professor of Harbin University. He regularly holds master classes in leading world centers (Switzerland, Japan, USA, Germany and other countries). The author's developments of the professor are implemented by leading Russian and foreign companies.
With his activities, Albert Sufianov reversed not only the flow of patients in neurosurgery - not from Russia abroad, but from abroad to Russia, but also the drain of "young brains" in neurosurgery. Today, residents and graduate students from abroad go to Russia, to Siberia, to study and do science, and not vice versa. The principle of a social lift for talented Russian students is being implemented. Ideologist and organizer of the International Student Olympiad in Neurosurgery, the winners of which get the opportunity to study and engage in scientific activities at Sechenov University through public grants, which is very important for Russia today. In a short time Sufianov A.A. brought Tyumen to the ranks of the most recognizable neurosurgical cities in the world, for which he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Tyumen. November 27, 2018 President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin personally awarded Professor A.A. Sufianov with the sign "Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation".
Albert Akramovich is a good family man, husband, father and already twice grandfather.
Happy Anniversary, dear Albert Akramovich! The staff of the Federal Center for Neurosurgery in Tyumen congratulates you and wishes you the best of health and further professional success. We are proud of you!
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Founder of Russian neurosurgery. 140 years since the birth of the outstanding neurosurgeon Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko
Becoming
Nikolai Burdenko was born on June 3, 1876 in the village of Kamenka, Nizhne-Lomovsky district , Penza province, in the family of a clerk. At the age of 10 he was sent to a religious school in Penza. Lived in a boarding school. “I beat my classmates, I endured myself from older age,” he later recalled. He was fond of reading and drawing. In 1891 he entered the Penza Theological Seminary. He achieved particular success in homiletics - he composed and delivered speeches and sermons on given topics. I worked as paid lessons. At 189On the 7th year he graduated from the seminary in the first category and, despite the strong opposition of his father, who wanted to see him as a priest, he entered the medical faculty of Tomsk University. At first he lived on the outskirts of the city in an old bathhouse, eating bread and tea. He was twice expelled from the university for participating in student unrest.
In 1901, Nikolay Burdenko transferred with difficulties to the medical faculty of the Yuryev (Derpt) University. He was in poverty and was forced to apply for an exemption from the fee for the right to listen to lectures. He was denied this. This is probably why he worked for more than 1.6 years on epidemics of smallpox, typhus and typhoid fever, scarlet fever in the Kherson province.
Then, following his idol - the great Pirogov, he went to the Russo-Japanese war as a doctor's assistant in the detachment of prof. Zege-Manteuffel surgery. He was awarded the soldier's St. George's Cross "for the courage shown during the transportation of the wounded under bullets." Hearing loss occurred as a result of the contusion.
Only in 1906 he graduated with honors from the university and received the title of doctor. He was taken on as an assistant by Prof. Zege-Manteuffel. Subsequently, N.N. Burdenko wrote about that period: "I lived in a clinic in a hospital ward, in fact among the sick. "
Path to science
In 1909 N.N. Burdenko defended his thesis "Materials on the issue of the consequences of ligation of venae portae" and received the title of Doctor of Medicine. He was sent for a year "for a scientific purpose abroad" to master the methods of scientific work, to acquire technical skills in scientific research. He paid most of his attention to neurosurgery and neurology. In the clinics of Fedor Krause and Hermann Oppenheim in Germany, N.N. Burdenko gets acquainted with the technique of operations on the nervous system. At the Oscar Vogt Neuro-Biology Institute, he attends a course on anatomy and histology of the central nervous system. Then he works in Zurich in the laboratory of von Monakov.
Interest N.N. Burdenko showed himself to neurosurgery already during the Russo-Japanese War, where he worked together with O.M. Holbeck, author of the monograph "On military field wounds of the skull" (Yuriev, 1911). In "Autobiography" Burdenko writes about himself: "Since the Japanese war, I already had a persistent desire to do neurosurgery." He also notes the influence exerted on him by I.P. Pavlov: “I was under the spell of the works of I.P. Pavlov, which were the basis for my philosophical thinking. In his scientific works, I.P. Pavlov always followed the motto: do not invent, do not invent, but look for what nature does and brings. By this I decided to be guided in my life and imitate I.P. Pavlov.
In June 1910 N.N. Burdenko is confirmed with the title of Privatdozent at the Department of Surgery and the Surgical Clinic of Yuryev University. The reviews noted “the special love of N.N. Burdenko to the basic medical sciences", as well as the fact that "Burdenko is mainly strong as an experimenter in the field of physiology and surgery". In December 1910 he became an extraordinary prof. at the Department of Operative Surgery. In May 1912 and from July 1913 to January 1914 he was on business trips abroad. During the summer holidays from 19From 11 to 1914, he was in charge of the surgical department in the Saki Zemstvo mud bath.
During the First World War N.N. Burdenko was an assistant to the head of the medical unit of the Red Cross under the armies of the North-Western Front, prof. Tsege-Manteuffel, then led the Red Cross Hospital in Warsaw.
In March 1917 he was appointed "correcting the post of Chief Military Sanitary Inspector". On the front line he received a shell shock with a further deterioration in hearing. He returned to Yuryev University and was elected there to the position of ordinary prof. Department of the Faculty Surgical Clinic, previously occupied by Zege-Manteuffel.
From June 1918 to March 1923 N.N. Burdenko is evacuated to Voronezh, where he heads the department and surgical clinic of Voronezh University, at various times replacing professors in other departments (general surgery, skin and venereal diseases, forensic medicine, neuropathology, sanitation and hygiene).
About the courage of N.N. Burdenko testifies to one of the episodes of the Civil War. When Voronezh was captured by the troops of General Denikin and Jewish pogroms were expected, Burdenko ordered the intern of the university clinic to hide the families of Jewish doctors. According to prof. IN AND. Vorontsov, he put them in the clinic under the guise of patients or hid them in other places.
Founder of Neurosurgery
In October 1921 N.N. Burdenko was elected prof. Department of Operative Surgery, First Moscow State University. However, the move to Moscow took place only in March 1923. In November 1924, Nikolai Nilovich became director of the faculty clinic of the First Moscow State University. Here he begins to closely engage in operations on the brain and spinal cord.
In the mid-1920s, prof. V.V. Kramer organizes a neurological department at the State X-ray Institute on the street. Solyanka. Being the founder of the topical diagnosis of focal lesions of the brain and spinal cord, Vasily Vasilyevich believed that the time had come for the rapid implementation of their clinical recognition.
Fateful for Russian medicine acquaintance and cooperation of like-minded neurologist Vasily Vasilyevich Kramer and surgeon Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko was marked by a major event: by order of the government in February 1929, a hospital for neurosurgical patients was opened in the neurological clinic of the State X-ray Institute. 25 beds and about 500 square meters of space - that was the start of Moscow neurosurgery.
Neurological basis and X-ray service contributed to the rapid development of a new industry. Boris Grigoryevich Egorov, Andrey Andreevich Arendt, Serafima Semyonovna Bryusova, Konstantin Grigoryevich Terian and other talented doctors stood out among the pioneers of neurosurgery.
3 years later, thanks to the joint efforts of N.N. Burdenko, V.V. Kramer and E.M. Rossels, by order of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR No. 18 dated January 2, 1932, an independent neurosurgical research institute was organized. Vasily Vasilyevich and Nikolai Nilovich changed roles - N. N. Burdenko, and his deputy - V.V. Kramer. However, until 1934 the neurosurgical institute existed only on paper. Only after receiving its own premises at 13 Ulyanovskaya Street, it gained a real embodiment and the possibility of full-fledged functioning: the number of beds increased to 100, then to 150, the staff of clinics and laboratories increased, an operating unit, a vivarium and other necessary services and units appeared.
N.N. Burdenko together with V.V. Kramer laid the foundation for Russian neurosurgery as a complex discipline. The principles of operating on the central nervous system were formulated: 1) anatomical accessibility; 2) physiological permissibility; 3) technical possibility. Remaining pivotal in the practice of neurosurgeons, these principles - with the development of knowledge and medical technology - develop, filled with new content.
The name of Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko is associated with the creation of the Neurosurgical Council in 1934, foundation of the journal "Problems of Neurosurgery" in 1937 and the Department of Neurosurgery of the Central Research Institute of Doctors in 1938
According to the director of the Institute N. N. Burdenko, from 1929 to 1938, about 2,500 patients with brain tumors were at the Institute, who underwent almost 1,500 operations. At the founding session of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences in 1944, N.N. Burdenko has already spoken about 4,000 operations for brain tumors.
As a scientist N.N. Burdenko studied traumatic cerebral edema, together with B.N. Mogilnitsky studied the influence of the hypothalamic region on the work of the vascular and visceral system. He also introduced analgesic operations for tumors of the trigeminal nerve, autoplasty of the dura mater (splitting of its leaves according to Burdenko-Bruning), proposed intracarotid administration of sulfonamides and antibiotics for cerebral inflammatory complications, and a number of other methods. At 1935 N.N. Burdenko performed a bulbotomy in the clinic, developed in an experiment by his employee B.N. Klossovsky, the operation of cutting the spinothalamic bundle with trembling after suffering encephalitis.
For his scientific research on surgery of the central and peripheral nervous system N. N. Burdenko was awarded in 1941 the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree.
Devotee
Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko was a generalist surgeon, but achieved special success in neurosurgery and military field surgery. Being an outstanding and trouble-free organizer, he occupied one after another various responsible public and non-public positions. We will name only some of them.
From 1929 to 1932 - Chairman of the Society of Surgeons of Moscow and the Moscow Region. Since 1931 - deputy. Chairman of the Academic Medical Council of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR, and since 1937 - the permanent chairman of EMC of the People's Commissariat of Health of the USSR, who oversaw the work of more than 300 medical research institutes. From 1932 to 1946 - Chairman of the Board of the All-Union Association of Surgeons. Chairman of the XXII and XXIII All-Union Surgical Congresses. Since 1934 he was a consulting surgeon at the Main Military Hospital. At 1935 was elected to the Moscow Council, then - a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. In 1936 he was awarded the Order of Lenin "for exceptional services in the development of Soviet surgery." Delegate of the VIII All-Union Congress of Soviets. Since 1937 - the chief surgeon-consultant of the Red Army. In 1937 he became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet. In January 1939 he was elected a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In April of the same year he was accepted as a member of the CPSU (b).
Working day N.N. Burdenko at the zenith of his fame lasted 16-19 hours.34 socialist obligations:
“I undertake to participate in the implementation of all undertakings to deepen the cultural revolution: a) to promote familiarization with modern achievements and problems in the field of surgery and border areas; b) fight for the development of scientific and technical work and its organization for the clinic staff; c) put and finish the indicative part on questions about reflexes with n. vagus in pulmonary operations; d) to finish a chapter in the textbook of nervous diseases on tumors of the brain and spinal cord; e) submit to print and illustrate the work on damage n. facialis; f) complete the theoretical substantiation of the operation I proposed for neuralgia n. trigemini; g) publish an operation on the ventricular system of the brain; h) try evipan anesthesia - intravenous, fast-onset and quickly passing anesthesia. The following lists Burdenko's commitments to staff training, department organization, and clinical work.
War
On August 1, 1941, Nikolai Nilovich was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Red Army and received the rank of physician. At the end of September 1941, he was hospitalized in the Kremlin hospital with a stroke, in October he was evacuated to Kuibyshev, and then to Omsk.
In November 1942 N.N. Burdenko becomes a member of the Extraordinary Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the Nazi Invaders. When investigating the Katyn tragedy, being the chairman of a special commission, Burdenko voluntarily or involuntarily makes a major mistake, believing that the mass executions of captured Polish officers were carried out by the Nazis. In reality, as it has now been proven and officially recognized, the barbaric action to exterminate 22,000 interned Poles was carried out by the NKVD with the sanction of the Politburo of the Central Committee. CPSU (b) in March-April 1940 g.
In May 1943, Nikolai Nilovich, the first of the physicians, was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (“For organizing surgical care for the wounded”). And in May of the following year, he becomes a colonel general of the medical service.
As chief surgeon of the Red Army, N.N. Burdenko was one of the authors of the military medical doctrine, based on the stages and specialization of medical care (hospitals "head", "chest", "stomach", etc.), which ensured the return to service of up to 73% of the wounded.
Nikolai Nilovich initiated the creation of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences in 1944 and became its first president.
Sickness and death
In July 1945, Nikolai Nilovich suffered a second stroke, and in the summer of 1946, a third. He died on November 11, 1946. Shortly before his death, he left the following note: “It is worth living only when you work, and if you don’t work, then it’s not worth living.”
As noted in the obituary on the death of N.N. Burdenko, “having singled out neurosurgery as a specialty, he simultaneously and simultaneously combined the new science with other branches of medicine, primarily with physiology. When Cushing, the founder of neurosurgery, died in America, one of the Western scientific journals wrote: “All his life Cushing dreamed of creating a neurosurgical institute with a broad neurological, physiological and psychiatric foundation. He died unable to fulfill his dream. Above the coffin of N. N. No one said to Burdenko that he had passed away without realizing his intentions and plans. He created a research neurosurgical institute…”.
Merits of N.N. Burdenko are immortalized perhaps more than any other of the Soviet physicians. His name is given to the Moscow Research Institute of Neurosurgery, the Main Military Clinical Hospital, the Voronezh Medical Academy, the clinic of faculty surgery of the Moscow Medical University. THEM. Sechenov, Penza Regional Clinical Hospital, the journal "Issues of Neurosurgery", streets and ships. Monuments have been erected to him in Moscow and Tartu.
Established the Prize. N.N. Burdenko, awarded by the Academy of Medical Sciences for the best work in neurosurgery or military field surgery. Personal scholarships of the scientist were also established for doctoral students, graduate students and students in medical universities and research institutes where Nikolai Nilovich worked. By order of the Soviet government in 1951-1952 7-volume collected works of N.