Conducting scientific research is extremely important for the development of practical medicine, which must meet European standards and be competitive in the global market for the provision of medical services.

Employees of the department of cardiac surgery, X-ray endovascular and extracorporeal technologies are actively developing a number of areas of scientific research. Among them is the development and improvement of existing methods of diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular pathology.

On January 24, 2023, the official defense of the thesis of a graduate student of the Department of Cardiac Surgery, X-ray Endovascular and Extracorporeal Technologies, Yury Kharenko, "Comparison of different methods of myocardial protection during the surgical treatment of mitral heart defects in conditions of artificial blood circulation" was held for the award of the scientific degree of Doctor of Philosophy in specialty 222 "Medicine", branch 22 "Health care". The dissertation is a fragment of the complex planned initiative-research work of the department of cardiac surgery, X-ray endovascular and extracorporeal technologies "Minitraumatic and reconstructive operations on the heart".

Scientific supervisor - head of the department of cardiac surgery, X-ray endovascular and extracorporeal technologies of Shupyk NHCU of Ukraine, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Professor Borys Todurov.

The meeting of the one-time specialized council was chaired by the head of the department of functional diagnostics of the Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine Professor Oleg Zharinov.

The official opponents were the professor of the department of surgery with the course of emergency and vascular surgery of the Bogomolets National Medical University, deputy director of the Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery named of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, corresponding member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Professor Kostyantyn Rudenko and head of the Department of Transplantation and Heart Surgery of the Shalimov National Institute of Surgery and Transplantology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Medicine. Artur Gabrielyan, and the reviewers are the head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care of the Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine, Professor Oleg Loskutov and Professor Rostyslav Vitovskyi, Professor of the Department of Surgery of the Heart and Main Vessels of the Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine.

The paper presents a theoretical generalization and a practical solution to an important scientific problem of modern cardiac surgery, namely, the choice of a method of protecting the myocardium during operations on the mitral valve in conditions of artificial blood circulation, due to the comparison of different types of protection. The obtained results confirm the safety of using myocardial fibrillation with intermittent aortic cross-clamping and emphasize the possibility of wider use of this method of protection in cardiac surgery.

Official opponents and reviewers in their speeches noted the scientific novelty and practical significance of the obtained results. By the decision of the specialized council, Yuri Kharenko was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of knowledge 22 "Health care" with the specialty 222 "Medicine".