In the Department of Pathophysiology, the head of which since 1945 year was Professor Hugon Kowarzyk, two main ideas were realized. First one, initiated just before the II World War, concerned a concept of presenting phenomena of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis as the complex proteolytic processes. Researches carried out in the first in Poland coagulation laboratory were crowned with an invention of protease nature of thrombin, which was published in "Nature" (1952). H. Kowarzyk (with K. Buluk) elaborated the euglobulin method for fibrinolysis testing, he also was a pioneer in administration of cryoprecipitate in treatment of hemophilia and found (with a E. Marciniak) antithrombin C - an active factor X.
The second idea of Prof. Kowarzyk was vectorcardiography, meaning vectorial examination of the cardiac electric field, performed using the own-construction apparatus, named axonocardiograph, which enabled obtaining prospective spatial vectorcardiograms of the heart. Along with the wife, Prof. Zofia Kowarzykowa, they performed the numerous clinical vectorcardiographic examinations, the outcomes of which were published in the book Spatial Vectorcardiography (1961). These researches resulted in building the original multielectrode network, called "diamentoid", based on the Platonian dual figures. This system register the vectorcardiograms regardless of any irregularities of the chest shape and the heart location asymmetry. Work of the "diamentoid", which was analogous to the Rijlant's network, could be simulated with the help of numeric matrixes.
In 1959, Prof. Kowarzyk held in Wrocław the First International Symposium on Vectorcardiography, initiating collaboration in this field among physicians, engineers, physics and mathematicians. This symposiumcommenced the cyclic meetings, organized under changing names, first as Vectocardiographic Colloquia, then as International Symposia and, finally, up to the present, as International Congresses on Electrocardiology.
The other branch explored by Prof. Kowarzyk was cytogenetics. He created a term of "population of chromosomes" and with Prof. H. Steinhaus examined a distance between such chromosome populations. Prof. Hugon Kowarzyk died in Wrocław on 7th of March, 1985.
Professor Józef Jagielski was called for a position of the head of the Department of Pathophysiology in 1987. In his dissertations presented evolution of electrocardiograms and vectorcardiograms in newborn. The teams of his co-workers have been carrying out the researches on electrocardiology, electrophysiology, genetics, biocybernetics and blood coagulation. The most significant achievements in these fields are: revealing dipolar nature of the cardiac electric field, introducing a method of heart mapping, computer examinations of auditory and visual brain evoked potentials, likewise organizing the Center for Electronic Calculations Technique and developing genetic counselling.
In the Department of Pathophysiology, under Prof. Jagielski's leadership, an intensive progression in medical genetics was made and a new students' course on clinical genetics was introduced. Researches in the field of genetics are pursuing in the following directions: clinical genetics, use of mathematical methods for chromosomes and DNA analyses, genetic testing in neoplastic conditions, mutagenesis and molecular analyses of DNA.
Since 1991, Prof. Jagielski has undertaken electrocardiologic research using a quite unique in Poland technique of the body surface heart potential mapping (BSPM). In 2001, in co-operation with Prof. Assist. T. Dobosz, the laboratory for heart genetics was founded, in which the genes mutations in genetically determined cardiac diseases are being searched.
Professor Józef Jagielski is a member of the Council of the International Society of Electrocardiology. He organized in 1991 the XVIII International Congress on Electrocardiology. The Department of Pathophysiology is now a co-organizer of the XXXIII ICE, which will take place in Gdansk in 2005.
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