10th Jubilee International Polish-Slovak-Czech Symposium on Videosurgery, 14th Symposium of the Polish Videosurgical Society
Wisła, 14-16 September 2008

10th Jubilee International Polish-Slovak-Czech Symposium on Videosurgery and 14th Symposium of the Polish Videosurgical Society took place in the Stok Hotel, Wisła, on 14-16 September 2008 (Photo 1). One of the sessions was dedicated to nursing problems. Organizing and Scientific Committees were presided over by Prof. Józef Dzielicki, MD, PhD and Prof. Krystyn Sosada, MD, PhD. Naturally, all events were taken care of by the graciously ascendant President of the Society, Prof. Tadeusz Wróblewski, MD, PhD (Photo 2).
During the official opening ceremony, according to many years of hallowed tradition, current Presidents of the Societies from individual countries, i.e. Prof. Tadeusz Wróblewski, Prof. Jan Dostalik and Prof. Rastislav Johanes welcomed their guests (Photo 3). The Symposium was also honoured by the presence of the President of the Association of Polish Surgeons, Prof. Wojciech Witkiewicz, MD, PhD (Photo 4).
The opening ceremony of the Jubilee Symposium was an opportunity for reflection and evaluation of the benefits from such international meetings, which for many years had outstripped actual formation of the European Union. These were presented by Prof. S. Czudek (Photo 5), P. Holeczy (Photo 6) and E. Stanowski (Photo 7), contemporary Presidents of the Section from each participating country, and Prof. Józef Dzielicki (Photo 8), an organizer of the 1st Polish-Czech-Slovak Symposium in Ustroń in 1999. During all these years we tightened our cooperation and exchanged experience as well as building professional, scientific and personal friendships. Apart from Symposia, yearly soccer and volleyball contests with participation of doctors and nurses from some centres (Zabrze, Jičin, Triniec, Zwoleń, Žilina) took place consecutively in each of these towns. Individual contacts between many surgical centres proved invaluable as a platform for training or specialty lectures.
Prof. Tadeusz Wróblewski, the President of the Polish Videosurgery Society, chapter of Association of Polish Surgeons, emphasized that many years of friendly international cooperation had a significant impact on the increasing level of minimally invasive surgery in each country. He expressed his hope for further, equally effective and friendly scientific practice.
Seven scientific sessions, including the aforementioned nursing session, took place during the Symposium. The goal of the Symposium was to propagate practical knowledge. Thus, every disputed topic was preceded by a 15-20 minutes lecture delivered by an expert. According to the custom, abstracts and slides were presented in English, while oral presentations were given in the native language of the speaker. This resembles a charming Tower of Babel, where – to my surprise – everybody understands one another.
The programme of the Symposium was presented in our bilingual periodical “Videosurgery and other miniinvasive techniques” [report, 2008; 3 (2): 110-113].
The first session discussed surgery of the large bowel in detail. An oncologist, Prof. L. Miszczyk, underlined the problem of pre-operative radiotherapy in rectal cancer. It is a particular issue in advanced cancers, which – as he said – dominate in Poland. During the second session the role of radiotherapy in the perianal and perirectal region was considered. Then, problems of oesophageal surgery in non-cancerous diseases and interventional endoscopy were discussed.
The second day of the meeting was devoted to treatment of hernias. Dr A. Ścierski showed that experience (i.e. the number of procedures performed per year) is a key factor influencing frequency of complications. Less than 50 procedures ruptures a year done by a surgeon correlates with increased number of hernia recurrences.
The organizers decided not to prepare a classic poster session. Each participant was given an opportunity to demonstrate his/her presentation and discuss it at a free topic session. The nursing session was also differentiated and contained topics of minimally invasive abdominal and thoracic surgery as well as liver transplantation.
In the non-scientific part of the meeting we could admire the performance of the string quartet “The Strings” during the opening ceremony and participate in a barbecue with a folk highlander band. The Symposium was attended by approximately 350 participants from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine.
We could visit an exhibition of medical equipment and presentation on the pharmaceutical industry. Participants were granted 13.5 educational points. Organization and administration of the Symposium was taken care of by Centrum Organizacji Konferencji I Kongresów GALOP in Katowice.
We hope that the photos included here will convey the atmosphere of the Symposium.