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THE ORIGINS OF DEVELOPMENT AND TEACHING OF NEPHROLOGY IN POLAND

Introduction and Aims: Nephrology dates back to Hippocrates’s times but its real development started in the 19^th and continued into the 20^th century.

Methods:

Results: In Poland it emerged in the early 20^th century, yet a 100 years earlier Jędrzej Śniadecki published his works on the urinary tract. In 1864, Józef Dietl described the condition known as Dietl’s Crisis. In the late 19^th century, Władysław Gluziński, the founder of the Polish Society of Internists published his works on urine excretion. In 1900, Samuel Goldflam described the sign known today as Goldflam’s sign. In the 1920s, Witold Orłowski made research into the function of kidneys in renal failure and other internal diseases. His students, Jakub Penson, Jan Roguski and Tadeusz Orłowski played a substantial role in the development of Polish nephrology in Gdańsk, Poznań and Warsaw. Simultaneously, Marceli Landsberg published his works on kidney pathophysiology and peritoneal dialysis, the field in which he is recognised as one of the world pioneers. The first department of nephrology, headed by Zdzisław Wiktor, was established in 1958 in Wrocław. By the 1970s all medical universities had already set up their departments of nephrology. Handbooks on nephrology by Polish and foreign authors played a role in education of future nephrologists. The first one by Witold Orłowski “The Diseases of the Urinary System” (1951) was a part of the larger: “The Science of Internal Medicine”. In 1959, Mieczysław Fejgin’s “Kidney Diseases in the Clinic of Internal Medicine” was out and a year later Zdzisław Wiktor published his “Outline of the Clinical Nephrology”. In 1976, edited by Tadeusz Orłowski and co-written by some big names in the Polish nephrology: Franciszek Kokot, Kazimierz Bączyk, Zygmunt Hanicki, Andrzej Manitius, Alfred Siciński, Teresa Wyszyńska - “Kidney Diseases” was published. Foreign titles included: “Clinical Disturbances of Renal Function” by Abraham White (1964), “Kidney Diseases” by Geoffrey M. Berlyne (1974) and “Nephrology (Clinical Pathophysiology)” by Gabriel Richet and Michel Beaufils (1976). The late 1980s and early 1990s saw a number of publications on dialysis treatment for doctors, nurses and patients edited by Bolesław Rutkowski. Some foreign centres of nephrology which played a role in training Polish doctors include those headed by Nils Alwall, Gabriel Richet, Raymond Ardaillou, Eberhardt Ritz, August Heidland or Shaul Massry.

Conclusions: After a century-long process of development, nephrology in Poland is now recognised worldwide for its high level with Polish doctors occupying high positions in international organisations like Andrzej Więcek - the President of ERA-EDTA.