The symposium was devoted to the past and present of the Department. Its history was presented from the perspective of cooperation with surgical clinics, as this collaboration has lasted the longest, dating back to 1975, when the Department officially began operating in the newly opened hospital on Banacha Street, which at that time housed mainly surgical clinics. The guests were welcomed by Professor Magdalena Januszewicz, Head of the Second Department of Clinical Radiology.
Fifty years of the Second Department of Clinical Radiology
In 1975, the team of the Second Department of Radiology consisted of 13 physicians, 3 engineers, and a group of radiographers. The department was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for that time, including, as one of the first in Poland, a Delta Scan computed tomography system.
“It was a very special device that performed brain CT examinations lasting from about 20 minutes to half an hour, producing images in the form of 8-millimeter slices. This was a major achievement, as previously slice thicknesses were 1 centimeter or even 12 millimeters,” recalled Professor Magdalena Januszewicz.
Currently, the department is equipped with highly specialized medical equipment and performs a full range of X-ray examinations, comprehensive diagnostics in computed tomography laboratories, including neuroradiological, otolaryngological, vascular examinations (including coronary vessels), abdominal and chest imaging, as well as the full range of magnetic resonance imaging, including spectroscopic and tractographic studies and cardiac diagnostics. It also provides comprehensive ultrasonography, including Doppler examinations and elastography. In addition, intravascular procedures are performed, including neurointerventional and oncological interventions. The department employs 73 physicians, 43 radiographers, and 27 nurses.
Over its 50 years of activity, the department has implemented numerous interventional radiology techniques into clinical practice, including thoracic and abdominal stent graft implantation, as well as procedures aimed at managing complications and interventions in patients after organ transplantation. In 2021, physicians from the department performed the first minimally invasive fluoroscopy- and ultrasound-guided placement of a feeding catheter into the stomach without the use of endoscopy in Poland. In 2025, they carried out a pioneering procedure involving the ablation of metastatic tumors in three different organs during a single therapeutic session.
Fruitful cooperation with surgical clinics
“In oncological surgery, it is practically impossible to function without excellent radiology, not only at the diagnostic stage, but also during patient qualification for surgery, the safe performance of major procedures, and the management of complications, both severe and less severe,” said Prof. Maciej Słodkowski, Head of the Department of General, Gastroenterological and Oncological Surgery (formerly the Department of Gastroenterological Surgery).
“The history of the department began in 1975, which means we have 50 years of close cooperation – cooperation truly deserving of a capital ‘C’,” added Professor Sławomir Nazarewski, representing the Department of General, Vascular, Endocrine, and Transplant Surgery (formerly the Department of Vascular Surgery and Transplantology). He listed numerous procedures, including vascular surgeries, made possible thanks to cooperation with the department and radiological diagnostics performed prior to patient qualification.
Many such words of appreciation were expressed during the symposium. The close relationship between surgery and radiology was also emphasized by Professor Marek Krawczyk, former Head of the Department of General, Transplant, and Liver Surgery (formerly the Department of General Surgery and Liver Diseases), and Professor Tadeusz Wróblewski from the same department. Congratulations were also extended by Professor Kazimierz Niemczyk, Head of the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (formerly the Department of Otolaryngology), together with Dr. Emilia Wnuk, as well as by Professor Przemysław Kunert from the Department of Neurosurgery and Pediatric Neurosurgery (formerly the Department of Neurosurgery), and Professor Andrzej Marchel, former Head of the Department.
Speakers also included staff members of the Second Department of Clinical Radiology: Dr. Krzysztof Milczarek, Dr. Jakub Franke, Dr. Rafał Maciąg, Dr hab. Grzegorz Rosiak, Dr. Krzysztof Lamparski, Dr. Krzysztof Gibiński, Dr. hab. Edyta Maj, and Dr. Maciej Jaworski. They expressed their gratitude for the trust and kind words and spoke about their daily work and the innovative radiological methods they apply. Among other topics, they discussed drainage of abdominal fluid collections, which, although relatively minor procedures, have significant clinical importance; thermal ablation of liver tumors, during which primary lesions are destroyed using high temperatures; and the implantation of self-expanding stents into the bile ducts, a procedure performed by their team as the first in Poland.
“I would like to thank you for all the kind words we have heard. In reality, cooperation is the key element that allows our hospital, our department, and our university to hold a leading position in many fields on the medical map of Poland. And cooperation is not merely a sum – it is a multiplying force,” said Dr. hab. Grzegorz Rosiak from the Interventional Radiology Unit.
The symposium concluded with a commemorative lecture entitled “Infective endocarditis – the heart and beyond,” delivered by Prof. Ilona Michałowska.
Before the presentations on the past and present of the Department began, Prof. Olgierd Rowiński, long-standing Head of the department, was awarded the Honorary Medal of the Polish Medical Society of Radiology – a prestigious distinction granted to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Society and to the development of Polish radiology.
