Development of Hand Surgery in Ukraine

ская, 27, Киев, 01601, Украина. Тел. +38(050)9342881. E-mail: eugenio.solonitsyn@gmail. com. ORCID: 0000 0001 7057 1405. Проценко Владимир Викторович – доктор медицинских наук, профессор, ведущий научный сотрудник отдела патологии стопы и сложного протезирования ДУ “Институт травматологии и ортопедии НАМН Украины”, ул. Бульварно-Кудрявская, 27, Киев, 01601, Украина. Тел. +38(050)3803781. E-mail: ip15@ukr.net. ORCID: 0000 0001 8896 8371.

During the period of rapid industrialization, there was a need to create a new approaches to treat hand injuries due to rapid development of metallurgical, mining and engineer industry, which were accompanied by a high level of injuries with a significant amount of disability in the second half of 20th century, in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions. During the 80-90's, hand surgeons from all regions of Ukraine took care of the following issues: surgery and rehabilitation of finger flexor and extensor tendons; upper extremity peripheral nerves and brachial plexus surgery; treatment and prevention of hand ischemic contracture; creation of the system of reconstructive surgical treatment in case of neglected brachial plexus and peripheral nerves injuries; development of a system of reconstructive surgical treatment in case In Zakarpattia (Uzhhorod), since 1997, on the initiative of V. Haiovich and A. Pogoriliak, microsurgery and hand surgery service was established, which is now under the care of the Combustiology Department. In Volyn (Lutsk), hand surgery service is transmitted to the initiative group, also working at the City Combustiology Center. In Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil and Rivne, initiative groups in the field of hand surgery service have been formed in the structure of orthopedic and trauma departments.
In the 2nd millennium, specialists from the Department of Microsurgery and Reconstructive Surgery of the Upper Extremity (Kyiv) regularly went to the regional and district centers in order to teach and demonstrate surgical interventions, and invite orthopedic and trauma surgeons to study surgery of the hand. The program of monthly training on tendon surgery and some aspects of surgery of the hand was implemented at that time. Dozens of orthopedic and trauma surgeons got specialization in hand surgery according to that program.
2005 was marked by the opening of another center for surgery of the hand in Luhansk on the initiative of V. Ivchenko and under the guidance of V. Holovchenko, whose surgeons owned microsurgical equipment and provided highly skilled assistance to the population of this region. Until 2014, Donetsk and Luhansk had full-profile microsurgery and hand surgery centers, which provided emergency round-the-clock assistance to all people of this and other regions of Ukraine with injuries and diseases of the hand, polystructural extremity trauma, and tissue defects.
Since the beginning of the military conflict at the east of Ukraine, hand surgery department in Luhansk has been destroyed and ransacked, and does not function. The department in Donetsk has lost its high level of qualification, since all leading specialists have moved from occupied territories and work in various centers of Ukraine.
At present, our experts are regular participants in the annual FESSH Congress, and young specialists participate in the FESSH Academy. Due to close scientific and practical communication with European colleagues, leading specialists in microsurgery and reconstructive surgery of the upper extremity are always in the trend of the world's events in the surgery of the hand field.
Several training sessions on tendon surgery and microsurgery have been conducted in Ukraine, with the participation of internationally renowned experts, such as Hanno Millesi. A regular hands-on practice seminar "Hand surgery course" was started in 2018; since then, a hundred specialists were able to improve their skills in tendon suture, bone osteosynthesis, and use of regenerative technologies in the field of surgery of the hand.
In 2017, I. Kurinnyi was elected as the president of Ukrainian Hand Surgery Society.
Ukrainian hand surgery society uses different methods in order to teach trauma and orthopedic surgeons the surgery of the hand, such as: training courses and seminars, webinars, lectures, presentations in various scientific and scientific-practical forums, publications in professional and popular science magazines, publications of methodological materials and monographs.
We see further perspective in the development and implementation of modern technologies in hand surgery, closer integration with FESSH and directly with the European hand surgery societies. It is important to conduct a variety of training programs with the support of FESSH, both in Ukraine and in other European countries.
Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest. This publication has not been, is not and will not be the subject of commercial interest in any form.