LETTERS TO EDITOR
Od redakcji

Professor Zbigniew Lorkiewicz, M.D., one of the pioneers of Polish cardiac surgery, passed away on December 20, 2012 at the age of 88. He was a graduate of Poznań University of Medical Sciences, where he studied in the years 1945-1950. Like most pioneers of cardiac surgery, he first obtained his general surgery specialization and then specialized in thoracic surgery, from which, after years of gathering experience, he went on to his favorite occupation – surgery of the heart.

He was a close associate of Professor Jan Moll, the distinguished cardiac surgeon who blazed the trail for this discipline in Poznań in the 1960s.

He continued to work in the Józef Struś Municipal Hospital on Szkolna Street under Professor Moll’s supervision, until the latter left for Łódź, at which point Professor Lorkiewicz inherited his post as the head of the Cardiac Surgery Department. The department under Professor Lorkiewicz grew systematically; in the early 1970s, the increasing number and variety of conducted operations placed the department among the best in the dynamically developing field of Polish cardiac surgery.

In 1973, Professor Zbigniew Lorkiewicz created the Po-

znań Center for Cardio-Pulmonology by combining the Department of Cardiac Surgery in Poznań with the Rehabilitation Hospital in Kowanówko. He continued to work as the Center’s Director and Head of Cardiac Surgery until his retirement in 1994.

Professor Lorkiewicz introduced innovative treatments into cardiac surgery; e.g. he popularized the use of cardioplegia in operations involving extracorporeal circulation, pioneered the use of intra-aortic counterpulsation, and promoted developments in the field of invasive cardiology. He authored nearly a hundred studies, and was the promoter of two doctoral dissertations.

With his passing, cardiac surgery loses one of the doctors whose passion for innovation and modernization forever changed the face of Polish medicine.



On behalf of the Board of the Polish

Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons

Wojciech Dyszkiewicz

President