The operation of the first successful family kidney transplant in Poland was performed by Bross 52 years ago, on the night of March 30-31, 1966. The organ restored the health of a 24-year-old patient, the donor was a 30-year-old brother, a miner.
- Professor Bross, a very religious man and practicing Catholic, was superstitious. Already on the stairs he was starting to swear. Before he reached the secretariat upstairs, he repeated several times, “There will be death, there will be death, Duk welcomed me”
- He had wonderful hands and amazing luck. He succeeded in surgeries that, for common sense, had no chance of success at the time
- Prof. Szepietowski: «The donor of the kidney was the patient’s 30-year-old brother, a miner by profession. Before the procedure, we had to notify the prosecutor and the highest authorities, including party authorities »
It was 1945. Wiktor Bross, habilitated doctor of all medical sciences, was 43 years old and he was looking for a job. Until the outbreak of World War II, he worked in Lviv, studied under the supervision of professor Tadeusz Ostrowski, the most outstanding Polish surgeon. The doctor chose Wrocław, where he became the head of the Second Clinic of Surgery. He was followed by other employees whom he knew from the hospital in Lviv, including the janitor.
He was already cursing on the stairs
He had a reputation as an overbearing man among his associates, although the surgeon was brilliant. Professor Bogdan Łazarkiewicz, a student of Bross, recalled in the pages of “My Academy” what the average day of a surgeon looked like: «Professor Wiktor Bross came to the clinic around seven. He was in the lead, followed by Mr. Józef Nuckowski, a laboratory technician and a faithful servant of the professor from Lviv. He was also a “fly laborer” in the operating room. He walked around with a float and killed flies if any were left in the operating room. The malicious suspects that there was an “eye and ear” of the professor.
In the morning he entered the clinic and at the reception desk he was greeted by Mr. Duk, a laboratory technician also from Lviv, who had no external nose damaged by tuberculosis. The professor was already cursing on the stairs. Before he reached the secretariat upstairs, he repeated several times “there will be death, there will be death, Duk welcomed me”.
Professor Bross, a very religious man and practicing Catholic, was superstitious. He believed that meeting Duk from the very morning brings him misfortune.
Bross was coming to the office, and there was already a crowd of different people: patients, friends, internists and cardiologists, waiting to talk to the professor, to consult the case, to hand over the patient to cardiac surgery.
(…) Around nine o’clock the professor would go down to the operating room, where he stayed until approx. 15. The treatments were held on three or four tables. The professor usually performed some more important procedure from the beginning to the end, he joined others, which looked different. Often with a row, rarely with praise, but always with some hint and lesson for the operator. About half past twelve, the famous secretary, Mrs. Genia Hutynkiewicz, faithful,
The photo comes from the archives of prof. Bogdan Łazarkiewicz (he published them in the book “My Academy”)
He dissected the stomach in 20 minutes
On the other hand, Professor Janusz Skalski, a cardiac surgeon, assessed Bross in the publication “Polish schools of cardiology, cardiosurgery and pediatric cardiology”: “He had wonderful hands and an amazing luck. He succeeded in surgeries that had no chance of success with his common sense ”, and another student of a doctor from Lviv, prof. Stefan Ostapczuk summed up in his memoirs: “He could organize everything, operate on everything. He was able to dissect the stomach in 20 minutes ».
The operation of the first successful family kidney transplant in Poland was performed by Bross 52 years ago, on the night of March 30-31, 1966. The organ restored the health of a 24-year-old patient, the donor was a 30-year-old brother, a miner.
The following professors also participated in the pioneering operation: Waldemar Kożuszek, Zdzisław Wiktor and Tomasz Szepietowski. The innovative procedure saved the patient’s life. It was also a medical experiment with not only medical consequences.
Prof. Szepietowski told about the operation from years ago in the Polish Science portal: “The donor of the kidney was the patient’s 30-year-old brother, a miner by profession. Before the procedure, we had to notify the prosecutor and the highest authorities, including party authorities. At that time, there was a risk of a court penalty for making a person disabled, and according to the law, the removal of an organ from a healthy person was such a disability. We had to have the consent of not only the donor ”.
Prof. Szepietowski also recalled another successful operation: “Then we transplanted one more kidney from a living donor. The father donated the organ to his son. Altogether, Professor Bross’s team performed eleven transplants over the course of several years, including two from living donors ».