Semen S. Girgolav is a Servant of Russian Surgery.To his 140th anniversary

Semen Semenovich Girgolav was born on February 2, 1881 in Tiflis, Georgia, Russia. In 1904 he graduated from the Imperial Military Medical Academy with honors. Under the guidance of Prof. M.S. Subbotin, Dr. S. Girgolav prepared and in 1907 successfully defended his doctoral dissertation “Experimental findings on the use of isolated omentum in the abdominal surgery”. Later, he headed the chairs of general surgery, hospital surgery of the Military Medical Academy; he also was a scientific director of the Leningrad Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, head of the surgical department of the medical faculty of the 2nd Leningrad Medical Institute.

In the 30s. Prof. Girgolav started a comprehensive work on thermal injuries and continued it until the last days of his life, while basic efforts of the staff of departments and laboratories which he headed were focused on studying local and general effects of low temperatures. From the first to the last days of the Great Patriotic War, he was the Deputy Chief Surgeon of the Red Army, and when Academician Burdenko (Chief Surgeon) fell ill (from October 1941 to May 1942 and in 1945) he acted as Chief Surgeon. During the Great Patriotic War, Prof. Girgolav regularly underlined the priority of the issues of military field surgery management as well as the issues of collecting and sharing the battle experience in surgery.

Academician Girgolav’s list of works includes more than 140 scientific papers, which can be schematically divided into the following topics: “Military field surgery”, “Wounds”, “Frostbites”, “Issues of Special Surgery”, “Traumatology”, “Asepsis and antiseptics”, “Pain relief”, “Neurosurgery”, “Endocrinology and oncology”, “Manuals and Guidelines”. Professor V. G. Weinstein (an outstanding Soviet traumatologistorthopedist who worked under Acad. Girgolav’s guidance) suggests the following sections: 38 works are devoted to comprehensive researches on wounds, 17 – to infections, 16 – to military field surgery, 14 – abdominal and thoracic surgery, 13 – traumatology, 12 – problems of low-temperature injuries. Fewer works in urology, plastic surgery, asepsis and antiseptics, vascular and operative surgery, history of medicine.

As a result of Acad. Girgolav’s research and educational activities, one of the largest surgical schools in the USSR has been created. More than 20 doctoral and 45 candidate dissertations were prepared and defended under his supervision. Academician, Lieutenant-General of the Medical Service .S. Girgolav, was awarded the Stalin Prize, two Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Order of the Red Star as well as many medals and honorary prizes for his outstanding contribution to the medical sphere of the Motherland in peacetime and wartime.

1. Lytkin M. I. Semyon Semenovich Girgolav: A short sketch of life and work = Lytkin M. I. Semen Semenovich Girgolav: Krat. ocherk zhizni i deyatel’nosti / Voyen.-med. akad. im. S. M. Kirova. SPb., 1993. 65 s. (In Russ).

2. Shevchenko Yu. L. An outstanding scientist and surgeon of the Soviet period in the history of domestic surgery (to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Academician Semyon Semyonovich Girgolav) = Shevchenko YU. L., Matveyev S. A., Gudymovich V. G. Vydayushchiysya uchenyy i khirurg sovetskogo perioda v istorii otechestvennoy khirurgii (k 130-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya akademika Semena Semenovicha Girgolava). Vestnik Natsional’nogo medikokhirurgicheskogo tsentra im. N. I. Pirogova. 2011; 6 (3): 120-124. (In Russ.)

3. Grinev M. V. Semyon Semyonovich Girgolav (1881–1957) = Grinov M. V., Tulupov A. N. Semen Semenovich Girgolav (1881–1957). Vestnik khirurgii im. I. I. Grekova. 2014; 173 (1): 9–11. (In Russ.)

4. Zaitsev E. I. Semyon Semyonovich Girgolav (1881–1957) = Zaytsev Ye. I. Semen Semenovich Girgolav (1881– 1957). Vestnik khirurgii im. I. I. Grekova. 2007; 166 (3): 9–10. (In Russ.)

5. Dzidzava I. I., Dmitrochenko I. V., Apollonov A. A., et al. Ivan Stepanovich Kolesnikov: a pioneer of thoracic surgery = Dzidzava I. I., Dmitrochenko I. V., Apollonov A. A. i dr. Ivan Stepanovich Kolesnikov: pioner torakal’noy khirurgii. Izvestiya Rossiyskoy voyenno-meditsinskoy akademii. 2017; 36 (1): 55–58. (In Russ.)

6. Knopov M. Sh., Taranukha V. K. Surgeons on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War (to the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory) = Knopov M. Sh., Taranukha V. K. Khirurgi na frontakh Velikoy Otechestvennoy voyny (k 70-letiyu Velikoy Pobedy). Khirurgiya. 2015; 5: 86–91. (In Russ.)

7. Aryev T. A. To the death of S. S. Girgolav (1881–1957). Obituary = Ar’yev T. A. K konchine S. S. Girgolava (1881–1957). Nekrolog. Khirurgiya. 1957; 8: 132–133. (In Russ.)

8. Weinstein V. G. Semen Semenovich Girgolav (To the 100th anniversary of his birth) = Vaynshteyn V. G. Semen Semenovich Girgolav (K 100-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya). Vestnik khirurgii im I. I. Grekova. 1981; 6: 147–149. (In Russ.)

9. Kotiv B. N., Dzidzava I. I., Barinov O. V. et al. Professor S.A. Shalaev is 80 years old = Kotiv B. N., Dzidzava I. I., Barinov O. V. i dr. Professoru S. A. Shalayevu 80 let. Izvestiya Rossiyskoy voyennomeditsinskoy akademii. 2020; 2: 61–64. (In Russ.).