Ireneusz Roszkowski (24 March 1910 – 21 April 1996) was a Polish nobleman, professor, founder of modern Polish gynaecology and obstetrics, a humanist, precursor of prenatal medicine, a supporter of midwives.
Early life and education Ireneusz Roszkowski born on 24 March 1909, in Łapy in the Białystok region, into a family with patriotic noble traditions, with the coat of arms Ogończyk, eldest son of Franciszek and Natalia (née Wnorowska). He had three brothers: Kazimierz, Stanisław and Józef; and three sisters: Jadwiga, Regina and Hanna. His maternal grandparents actively took part in the January Uprising (1863); both of them were deported to Siberia, never to return. His grandfather's brother Jan, also an insurgent, fled with raftmen to Gdańsk and then on to the United States. A need for education/training, self-development, work and mutual assistance reigned within the family.
In 1928 he graduated from the Tadeusz Kościuszko High School in Łomża. He actively took part in the scouts. Even at this stage his organizational skills were obvious. In later years, he repeatedly stressed the importance of scouting in the education of the young. For a few years in high school he fenced with a passion.
He began his studies at the University of Warsaw in the Faculty of Law, after passing the first year, he moved to the Faculty of Medicine.
In 1935, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Warsaw University. During his studies he attended lectures with such as professors: Mściwój Semerau-Siemianowski, Witold Orłowski, Adam Czyżewicz, Tadeusz Butkiewicz, Henryk Gromadzki, Dr. Roman Welman. During his studies he had to support himself, working as a lab technician with Professor Serkowski. He took an active part in student life. As the first head of construction of the Medical Student's Accommodation (Domu Medyka) on Oczki in Warsaw, he and a group of friends organized balls and film screenings to raise funds for the construction. He worked in the cardiology department with Professor (then Assistant Professor) Mściwój Semerau-Siemianowski.
Career After graduating in 1935 – 1936 he completed his military service at the Cadet's school sanitary division in Warsaw. After completing military exercises he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, sanitary division, allocated to the officer resources of the district hospital in Warsaw.In 1936 – 1937 he worked at the Saint Sophie Gynecological – Obstetrics unit. From 1937 he associated himself with the hospital of the Transfiguration.
In September 1939 he was drafted into the army, allocated to the Army Poznan as the Head of the chemical – bacteriological field hospital No. 202. Near Kutno, the sanitary train in which the hospital was housed, was bombed. 18 September 1939 during the battle of the Bzura River, in Sennik, Dr. I. Roszkowski was wounded and taken prisoner. On 15 October 1939, thanks to the help of his uncle Wacław Roszkowski and friend, Jerzy Niżałowski, he managed to escape from the POW camp and returned to Warsaw.
After returning to Warsaw, he returned to the Hospital of the Transfiguration, living and working there throughout the entire occupation. During the years 1937 – 1942 in the obstetrics – gynaecology wards, then from 1942 to 1944 in the surgery wards under Doctor T. Budkiewicz. Throughout those years the surgery wards were equivalent to accident and emergency. For a young doctor these were years of hard work, with continuous extra operations in addition to the scheduled ones, carried out in secret, with great risk to life as extensive gunshot wound operations (each gunshot wound had to be reported to the German authorities). Ireneusz Roszkowski was part of the team of surgeons operating on wounded soldiers from the Resistance, amongst whom, were those injured in the assassination attempt on the head of the Gestapo, Kutschera. Sometimes, a few times a week, he was called upon at night, to assist at difficult births. He never refused to help needy patients, the injured or the birthing woman.
From 1944 to 1945 he was one of the initiators and organizers of the teaching of medical students on Boremlow, which at the end of the war evolved into the structure of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Warsaw. It was very important to him to re-launch the work of the University as quickly as possible. Many young people in the resistance worked in hospitals, but did not know what to do, as they were completely lost in the new reality. After the war, they were threatened from repressions by the security services. Learning at the higher education institution was an opportunity for them to survive and at the same time, the possibility to acquire an education.
During the years 1944 – 1946 he worked in the Obstetrics / Gynaecology clinic in Warsaw with Professor Adam Czyżewicz, after that, 1946 – 1951 he moved to Gdańsk as the professor's assistant and then Assistant Professor at the Obstetrics / Gynaecology clinic of the Medical Academy with Professor Henry Gromadzki.
His PhD thesis which he defended in 1946 (PAU 1945, No. 10,291) was entitled "The Blood Morphology in birth infections and its meaning in determining severity and prognosis". His professorial thesis entitled "The thyroid and ovulation mechanism", was presented and defended on 8 July 1947 before the Council of the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical Academy in Gdansk ("Polish Gynaecology magazine" 1948 No. 4). Associate Professor in 1953 and Professor in 1976.
From 1951 to 1955, he was the Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic of the University of Medical Sciences in Poznan on Polna Street. The Poznan Clinic was a large centre, but the organization of care for pregnant women was old fashioned. This involved a high mortality rate amongst mothers, fetuses and newborns. In a very short time Roszkowski introduced in Poznan and for the first time in Poland, "trauma meetings", discussing cases of complicated births. High prenatal mortality was due, amongst other reasons, to the fact that neither analysis of the reasons for death, nor autopsies of the fetuses and newborns were carried out. Roszkowski introduced changes in the care of pregnant and birthing women in his capacity as the national specialist on the National Council of the Polish Society of Gynecologists. In 1953 he delivered his paper "Methods used in the fight to reduce perinatal mortality" to the council. Since then, analysis of the causes of death of fetuses and newborns is carried out by a team including obstetricians, neonatologists, pathologists, bacteriologists, immunologists, neurologists, biochemists and other disciplines, depending on the specific clinical situation. Perinatal mortality has been reduced sevenfold.
Roszkowski organized the first Polish pathology of pregnancy wards, first in Gdansk, then in Poznan and finally the biggest ward in Warsaw on Karowa Street. In 1962 at the Conference of Polish Gynecologists in Gdansk he presented a paper on the programme entitled "Pathophysiology of fetal hypoxia". In this paper, he presented for the first time in writing, his own findings regarding hypoxia in fetuses. In 1974 at the Polish Gynaecology Society (PTG) Conference in Katowice he presented a paper titled "Pregnancy of high risk" – based on analysis of his own clinical / biochemical material.
The first Polish andrology out patient clinic dealing with male specific medical problems was organized in Poznan, where they began to explore the impact of male factors on abnormal pregnancies, especially in miscarriages. This was some of the first research of this type in the world.
During the years 1955 – 1979, for 24 years until his retirement, Roszkowski was Head of the II Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Medical Academy in Warsaw at Karowa Street. This was one of the most modern clinics in Central Europe, which through its clinical and scientific activities became the model for other branches. Numerous clinics were established and developed and some, which were interdisciplinary in nature, such as the experimental Embryology Laboratory or the experimental Sexology Laboratory were unique units on a global scale. During these years, of the 10,319 patients, no deaths were reported amongst women associated with pregnancy or childbirth.
Roszkowski was a skilled surgeon. He implemented a number of his own modification in operating methods in association with the reproductive organ.
While working in the Gdansk clinic he developed his own unique techniques in extended hysterectomy operations as a result of cervical cancer, incorporating operational methods described by Latzko and Tausig. This type of operation became known as the Latzko-Tausig-Roszkowski (LTR) method. The purpose was to cut as wide a sector of the lymphatic and connective tissue and ligaments in the pelvic region and perivaginal structure including the upper half of the vagina. This extended hysterectomy operation was the fourth method used in the world but the first in Poland. A detailed description of this operational method was presented at the XI Congress of Polish gynecologists and published in the "Polish Gynaecology" magazine in 1952, Issue 2. He developed an original method of surgery for the treatment of stress incontinence, which consisted of two cross-seam stitches under the urethra (known as operatio crutiata). He also developed his own method of removing uterine myoma. He developed extended information in preventative methods in dealing with tumours of the uterus and ovary. These procedures have helped in the unnecessary removal of the ovary in young women.
Throughout his career, he focused on reducing intraoperative and postoperative complications. His surgical work and knowledge of anatomy enabled him to perform complex gynecological and oncological procedures. He treated patients from across Poland, including cases referred for their complexity.
Some of the following methods were introduced for the first time in Poland:
In 1959, the obstetrical vacuum was used at the clinic on Karowa Street. The method of freezing was used in treating erosions of the cervical vaginal shield. The colposcopy method of examination of the shield part of the vagina in patients at risk of developing cervical cancer was introduced in the early sixties. In 1965 for the first time, ultrasound was used to check both obstetric and gynecological patients. The polycardiogram was introduced for the first time in the country to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus. The system of "rooming in" in other words (mother and child together) was organized in the Maternity Ward of this clinic. The first laboratories of gynecological pathology and cytogenetic in Warsaw were opened. He was the first initiator and organizer of the "szkół matek – mother’s school". There were 650 of these in 1954. They later evolved into "Szkoły Rodzenia – Birthing schools". In the 1950s he worked on special Partogram cards, which record all the parameters occurring during labour. This card was further introduced throughout Poland and became the lasting legacy in obstetrics.