The department was founded in 1922 as a part of the Kyiv Clinical Physicians' Continuing Education Institute on the basis of the Kyiv First Soviet Hospital. The first person who headed the department was Professor S.E. Stavraki (former student of Prof. M.M. Volkovich). He was in charge within the period from 1922 till 1932. The next head of the department was Professor M.Ya. Kharshak (the period from 1932 till 1940). He continued the inchoate tradition of studying the disease that was common for that time, i.e. scleroma of the respiratory tract. In addition, he became the founder of the otolaryngology school and was the first doctor in Ukraine who developed and implemented the methods for surgical treatment of laryngeal cancer, in particular the complete and partial laryngectomy (1933), and studied the long-term results of these interventions.
In 1944, Professor Oleksiy S. Kolomiychenko was voted into the chair and headed the department until 1964. Prof. O.S. Kolomiychenko further developed and improved the methodology of the post-graduate training for physicians in otorhinolaryngology. In 1955, he published a manual in Ukrainian for practitioners with primary specialization and country general practitioners, i.e. “Ear Diseases”. He was the first surgeon in Ukraine who used an operation microscope, introduced surgical procedures to improve hearing for otosclerosis and developed his own methods of stapedoplasty, for which was awarded with the Lenin Prize in 1964. Being a very scholarly man, Prof. O.S. Kolomiychenko made a significant contribution to all areas of the otolaryngology. The peak of his activity was the establishment of the Scientific and Research Institute of Otolaryngology, which now is named after O.S. Kolomiychenko.
Since 1964, Professor Savelii I. Mostovyi became the head of the department. Under his leadership and co-authored by the department employees (R.А. Abyzov, K.D. Marchenko, O.D. Momot, A.A. Lajko) the manuals and monographs have been published that were essential for improvement of pedagogical process, raising the level of ENT physicians’ knowledge and an increase in effectiveness of the treatment of ENT patients. S.I. Mostovyi introduced into the medical practice the use of fluorescence and lavage methods to detect micrometastases. S.I. Mostovyi developed a surgical procedure for excision of the preepiglottic space tissues at vestibular localization of the laryngeal tumors. Under his guidance the Associate Professors M.L. Sanotskyi, A.L. Makukha, K.D. Marchenko, N.P. Manzhura, and А.А. Lajko, and Assistants A.D. Momot and G.F. Boyars’kyj defended their theses.
From 1975 till 1991, the department was headed by Professor Olena A. Yevdoschenko, who continued the tradition of the Kyiv otolaryngology school having a huge experience in scientific, pedagogical and therapeutic work. Prof. О.А. Yevdoschenko made a significant contribution into the study of clinical forms of acute stenotic laryngotracheobronchitis in children, and introduced into the practice an effective comprehensive method of their treatment. She proposed a method of tracheal plastic surgery for chronic stenosis. Under her guidance, new methods of diagnostics and treatment of latent otoantritis have been developed, that became a subject for the thesis of associate professor M.O. Melnyk. The sparing drainage method for the treatment of the patients with acute and chronic sinus infection has been implemented; the issues of emergency care in rhinogenic, orbital and intracranial complications of sinuses inflammatory diseases, new methods of hearing-improving surgeries for chronic purulent otitis media and otogenous intracranial complications have been studied.
From 1991 till 2002, the department was headed by Professor Bogdan G. Is’kiv, Honored Worker of Higher School, a former student of Prof. O.A. Yevdoschenko. The main directions of his scientific and pedagogical activity were the following: fundamental experimental and histological studies of the engraftment of various tissues (fascia of the buccal mucous membrane, skin, vein walls) to create the tympanic membrane. Under his guidance, a new direction in the hearing-improving ear surgery, i.e. variants of meatotympanoplasty for chronic otitis media was developed, immunological studies were conducted in chronic middle-ear purulent pathology, cryosurgical methods for the treatment of chronic and oncologic ENT diseases have been widely implemented. Prof. B.G. Is’kiv is the author of a manual on meatotympanoplasty, a new direction of ear surgery.
From 2003 till 2014, the department was headed by Rustem A. Abyzov, Dr. habil., Professor, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, author of the unique within the CIS territory manual on oncootorinolaryngology. The main directions of his scientific activity were the following: tonsillar problem, clinical and experimental studies of regenerative processes in ENT-oncological patients, improvement of methods for radiological diagnosis of ENT pathology, conservative and surgical treatment of oncootolaryngological patients, development of modern methods for the treatment of local radiation lesions and tissue-saving electrosurgical technologies.
Since 2014, the department is headed by Volodymyr O. Shkorbotun, Dr. habil., Professor, Honored Doctor of Ukraine. The priority directions of the department’s work are the following: functional endoscopic surgery of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, navigation rhinosurgery. electrosurgery technologies in oncootolaryngology, tonsillogenous and laryngeal phlegmonous diseases of the neck, application of radio-wave and high-frequency electrosurgery in otolaryngology, radiological diagnostic methods for otogenous intracranial complications and purulent-inflammatory neck diseases of tonsillogenous origin, and cochlear implantation.