13 GSK Gdańskie Spotkania Kardiochirurgiczne

The History of the Department of Cardiac Surgery and Gdansk Cardiosurgical Conference

One might regard the establishment of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Medical Academy of Gdansk in 1970 as the beginning of cardiosurgical team work in the area of Gdansk. A group of six surgeons started to perform operations on heart and big vessels in adults and children which no longer required extracorporeal circulation.

At the beginning of the 70's cardiosurgeons from Gdansk started to cooperate with Dutch cardiosurgical centers (OLVG in Amsterdam and St. Antonius Hospital in Utrecht). As the result of the cooperation, the Polish cardiosurgeons were given the apparatus used for extracorporeal circulation in order to enhance their development.

The first open heart operation involving extracorporeal circulation was performed on 29^th April 1975. During this historical surgery, a group of cardiosurgeons from Gdansk supervised by Dr. Mirosława Narkiewicz successfully closed an interatrial septal defect in an 8-year-old girl.

In December 1975 cardiosurgeons from Gdansk successfully performed a venous aorto-coronary by-pass operation. Since 1976 implanting artificial heart valves operations have been performed.

The subsequent years were mainly focused on the development of surgery of aorta – operations of ascending aortic aneurysms as well as aortic dissection with the use of deep hypothermia.

In 1985 for the first time in Gdańsk the internal mammary artery was used in myocardial revascularisation.

On the 1^st July 1987 the division of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiacvascular Surgery  Medical Academy of Gdansk resulted in the establishment of the Department of Cardiac Surgery Medical Academy (which also contained the vascular surgical department) and the Department of Thoracic Surgery Medical Academy. At the turn of 1980s and 1990s the clinic started surgical treatments of atrial fibrillation.

A new operating suite was opened on the 27^th June 1996 consisting of three modern operating rooms and 10 beds in postoperative wards.

In 1998 the program of performing off pump beating heart coronary artery revascularisation was started.

The successful development of Gdansk’s cardiosurgical department led to over 1000 open heart surgeries performed by the end of 1998 – an achievement which can be proudly compared with the highest European standards. This accomplishment incepted the idea of holding the Gdansk Cardiosurgical Conference (GCC).

The first GCC took place in January 1999 at Hanza Hotel which is located in Gdansk. As the organizers of the GCC we were privileged to host a number of prominent experts, such as: Prof. Zbigniew Religa – the national consultant in the field of cardiosurgery, Poland; Prof. F. W. Mohr from Leipzig, Germany and Dr. P. Grundemann – Utrecht, Holland. One of the subjects which was considered for the first GCC's main discussion was the use of minimally invasive techniques used for coronary surgeries. The first GCC's general session lasted for two days (8^th-9^th January) with 17 submitted presentations and over 100 participants in attendance.

The second GCC in 2000 was the first to introduce live coverage from operating theaters.

The following years attracted the attendance of many outstanding cardiosurgeons from abroad  for instance, Dr. E. Jansen who performed total arterial heart revascularisation using the “off pump”method. Prof. O. Alfieri and Dr. F. Maisano shared their knowledge while performing the mitral valve reconstructions in adults and Prof. A. Kalangos in children.

In recent years, Dr. P. Urbański and Dr. A. Sosnowski operated on the ascending aortic aneurysm reconstructing the aortic valve at the same time.

The special guest of GCC is Prof. F. Robitschek, whose lectures are not only the memory of the pioneers’ ideas in the field of medical and cardiosurgical history, they also indicates how much is left to understand in order to operate heart diseases effectively and successfully.

Over the years, GCC's have progressed with the number of participants and scientific sessions steadily increasing to the point that we set a new record in 2010 with over 600 participants. Last year’s GCC saw three simultaneous sessions taking place each day with cardiac anesthetists, children’s cardiosurgeons, cardio-pulmonologists nurses and rehabilitators taking part in the conference for the first time. Prior to 2010 the participants of the GCC were mainly cardiosurgeons. As every year, live coverage from two operating theaters was provided. These two surgeries concerned minimally invasive mitral valve reconstruction and aortic valve plasty.

Throughout the recent decade the Department of Cardiac Surgery has mainly focused on the development of the programs concerning the heart valve reconstructions and aortic valve sparing operations while operating aneurysms of aorta.

The selective cerebral circulatory perfusion in operation on the aorta with circulatory arrest has been introduced to the point that is now routinely used. The artificial heart chambers transplantations POLVAD were started in patients with terminal circulatory insufficiency. In December 2006 the first heart transplant in Gdańsk was performed.

Jacek Juściński