page_title: Victor Skumin
section_title: Cardiac surgery
hierarchical_section_title: Victor Skumin / Contribution to psychiatry and psychotherapy / Cardiac surgery
caption_attribution_description: English: Graphic of the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart beside a human heart with call-outs.
context_page_description: Victor Andreevich Skumin is a Russian and Soviet scientist, psychiatrist, philosopher and writer.
  After graduating from the Kharkiv National Medical University in 1973, in 1976, he became a psychotherapist in Kiev Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. In 1978, he described a new disease, the Skumin syndrome. He introduced a method of psychotherapy and self-improvement based on optimistic autosuggestion for psychological rehabilitation of cardiosurgical patients.
  From 1980 to 1990, he was professor of psychotherapy at the Kharkiv Medical Academy of Post-graduate Education. The main result of his scientific activity was the discovery of the "syndrome of the neurotic phantom of somatic disease" and a "concept of the mental constituent of a chronic somatic disease".
  From 1990 to 1994, Skumin held positions as chaired professor of psychology and pedagogy, and of physical education and Health life at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. In 1994, he was elected to the post of the President-founder of the World Organisation of Culture of Health. In 1995, Skumin became the first editor-in-chief of the journal To Health via Culture.
context_section_description: He researched from 1976 to 1980 psychological and psychiatric problems of cardiac surgery under the mentorship of Nikolai Amosov, who was the founder and first director of the Kiev Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. This Institute was the first to conduct surgical treatment of heart diseases in the Ukrainian SSR (since 1955), the Institute began to conduct operations with extracorporeal circulation (1958), and mitral valve replacements (1963). In 1961, Amosov was awarded Lenin Prize for the work of surgery.
  Since a valve replacement is a heart surgical procedure, it requires placing the patient on cardiopulmonary bypass. With a valve replacement surgery, there are some risks. Skumin researched a neuropsychological and psychopathologic changes following open heart surgery, nonpsychotic mental disorders in patients with valvular heart disease before and after surgery, associated with mechanical artificial heart valve (MHV) implant.
  An artificial heart valve is a device implanted in the heart of a patient with valvular heart disease, congenital heart defect, etc. When one or two of the four heart valves malfunctions, the medical choice may be to replace the natural valve with an artificial valve. There are three major types of mechanical valves with many modifications on these designs. This requires open heart surgery. The mechanical valves are made from metal and pyrolytic carbon, and can last a lifetime. All MHV function in the human body creating a unique sound effects and vibration. Patients with mechanical valves must take blood-thinning medications to prevent clotting. The choice of which valve type to use depends upon the patient's age, medical condition, preferences with medication, and lifestyle.Skumin syndrome (Russian: Синдро́м Ску́мина) was described by Skumin in 1978 as a cardioprosthetic psychopathological syndrome, associated with mechanical heart valve implant and manifested by irrational fear, anxiety, depression and sleep disorder. This syndrome is often accompanied by asthenia. Alain Carpentier – a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the head the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou in Paris – believed in 2011 that Skumin syndrome develops in a quarter of the patients with an artificial heart valve. It is possible that a similar problem arises in the conduct of operations to implement an artificial heart.
  The Russia's international news agency RIA Novosti, operating under the purview of the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, wrote about this problem (2014),
  Victor Skumin, our domestic scientist, described "cardioprosthetic psychopathologic syndrome", which entered the textbooks as "Skumin syndrome". The human mind is constantly fixed on the motor is running. For example, in contrast to prosthetic of teeth, arms or legs, it is not possible to divert attention of human from the sounds of functioning implant in his body. Person is constantly waiting for a suddenly the motor will stop? In the human heart the pain gives signals. Here there is no pain and can not to be. In the future, probably, there will be heart prostheses, imitating his heartbeat. But they will not be hurt, and Skumin syndrome will continue to hang over the human psyche with a heart valve prosthesis.
  The methods and the main principles of such therapy and neuropsychological rehabilitation are described and its efficacy was demonstrated. Skumin proposed mixture subsequently named after him. Skumin's mixture (Russian: Миксту́ра Ску́мина) is a medicine with a sedative effect, affecting the central nervous system. It is used to treat Skumin syndrome, light forms of heart failure, anxiety and sleep disorders, and asthenia. The medicine is known to be well tolerated, with no contra-indications, except sensitivity. The formula contains Adonis vernalis, Crataegus, Valerian root, Leonurus cardiaca, Eucalyptus, Peppermint, and Rose hip.
  For psychological rehabilitation, Skumin improved psychological function by calming the nervous system, enhancing relaxation, increasing body awarenes
caption: Total Artificial Heart beside a human heart
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2010:06:04 10:14:57", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5036", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3300", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2550"}