The Heart of the Surgeon

In memory of the outstanding surgeon Fyodor Uglov

Fyodor Uglov holds the Guinness World Record for oldest practicing surgeon in the history of medicine. Over his 75-year career, he performed more than 10,000 operations and published around 1,000 articles for research magazines and popular press on a number of topics, including many issues surrounding bioethics that remain relevant to this day.

The future academician, founder of the All-Union Research Institute for Pulmonology, forefather of the Russian school of cardiovascular surgery, and world-class professional whose achievements in medicine were once compared by Michael DeBakey (perhaps the most famous cardiac surgeon in the world) to the space mission of Yuri Gagarin, was born on September 22, 1904 to a large family in the Irkutsk region. Although Fyodor’s family was poor, his parents managed to give him a proper education. After completing school, he instead chose to be a doctor and graduated with honors from the Medical Faculty of Saratov State University in 1929.

After receiving his degree, Uglov spent many years in his home region. First, he worked as an ordinary doctor, then as the head of a surgical department, and then as physician-in-chief. In 1937, he moved with his family to Leningrad, where he finished his postgraduate studies, then received his PhD and his doctor’s degree. His life was full of hardships, including service as a military surgeon in the Winter War and round-the-clock work under the siege of Leningrad, during which he performed highly complicated operations under shellfire and suffered constant hunger. Nevertheless, Uglov not only survived, but also gained invaluable experience. 

After the war, word of the talented surgeon from Leningrad spread beyond the borders of the Soviet Union and his work attracted the interest of his foreign colleagues. Doctors around the world were amazed at how delicately Uglov performed surgeries, how carefully he applied anaesthesia, and how skillfully he sutured wounds. He was often mentioned in the press and his colleagues would applaud him, honoring him with titles like “magic hands” and “silk suture”. Uglov himself recalls this time in his famous work, The Heart of the Surgeon, writing, “If a doctor’s hands are rough, it means he has a rough heart that knows no compassion”.

Fyodor Uglov’s contribution to medicine cannot be overstated. He was one of the first surgeons in the country to perform complex esophageal surgeries and operate on patients with lung diseases, congenital and acquired heart diseases, and aortic aneurysms. Uglov is the author of a monograph on artificial cardiac valves and the methods for manufacturing them, the inventor of numerous surgical techniques and tools, and the founder of a brilliant school of surgeons, scientists and educators. 

Fyodor Uglov believed that the main goal of medicine was to awaken the dormant forces of resistance within the human body that can overcome harmful “agents”. If those forces were not there, no treatment would be able to help. The famous scientist knew this from his own experience. In his youth, he had recovered from a number from diseases that were considered deadly at the time, including typhoid, spotted fever, pneumonia and later malaria. However, Fyodor Uglov persevered through all of the illnesses. As a result, he developed a system for longevity based on a few simple rules: keep a level head, maintain a normal weight, balance physical and mental activity, never smoke or drink alcohol, and love one’s work and family.

Uglov adhered to these principles throughout his incredibly long life. He remained active and optimistic, leading a rich professional and creative life until the very end. Even at one hundred years old, he could see without glasses, perform surgeries, drive a car, do up to a hundred squats per day, walk long distances, and recite Alexander Pushkin’s poems by heart. 

Fyodor Uglov died on June 22, 2008 at the age of 103. Every year, those who knew him and those who simply admire his legacy visit his monument in the Nikolsky Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery to repeat the famous words of this great doctor: “Hurry up for good deeds!” 

Source: The Heart of the Surgeon by Fyodor Uglov