History

On the 19th of March 1991, the Executive Committee of the Polish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (PSOT) has established the Section of Paediatric Orthopaedics (SPO). That decision of the PSOT Executive Committee was a great success of the many-year stubborn efforts, initiated and continued by Prof. Ignacy Wośko, Head of the Clinic of Paediatric Orthopaedics. Already the first years of the SPO’s activity justified its foundation and proved plausibility of its existence.

The first Chairman of SPO was – certainly – Prof. Ignacy Wośko and its first location was established at the Chair and Clinic of Paediatric Orthopaedics, the School of Medicine in Lublin. Subsequent chairmen of the Section were: Prof. Witold Marciniak and Prof. Marek Synder, who has been holding that position till now. Soon after the Section of Paediatric Orthopaedics was founded, it turned out how appropriate decision it had been. During a very short time, the Section joined 200 orthopaedic doctors with different experience and professional status. Thanks to Prof. Wośko’s personal engagement, the Section developed with a great dynamics, while its annual symposia, during which key issues of paediatric orthopaedics are approached and dealt with, have become our good and still continued tradition.

The First Symposium of the Section was organised in Lublin in 1991 and its topic was then congenital hip dysplasia. This important issue was connected with presentations of the experience of paediatric orthopaedists in the use of US imaging for the early diagnostics of that malformation

In 1992, the 2nd Symposium of the Section was held in Zakopane and its topic was the non-operative treatment of infantile cerebral palsy. That Symposium hosted a number of eminent specialists in that field, including paediatric neurologists, radiologists and a whole lot of orthopaedists.

The 3rd Symposium was organised in 1993 in Poznań, its key issue being the non-operative treatment of congenital talipes varus. A year after, the participants of a consecutive Symposium, this time in Kazimierz Dolny, held discussions on rachischisis and, still one year later, (1995) in Miedzeszyn n. Otwock, diseases and defects of the spine were the leading subject.

The 6th Symposium of our Section took place in Kraków in 1996 and was dedicated to the consequences of traumatic lesions of growth cartilages and epiphyses. That symposium was highlighted by the presence of Prof. Klaus Parsch from the Clinic of Paediatric Orthopaedics in Stuttgart, Germany. The programmatic lecture, delivered by Prof. Parsch at that Symposium, left an unforgettable impression, while systematising the treatment of epiphysial cartilage defects.

A year later, In Konstancin, congenital defects of the limbs (hypertrophies and bone defects) were discussed and in 1998, on a ferryboat from Szczecin to Ystad, the surgical treatment of infantile cerebral palsy was the key issue. The invited guests of that particular Symposium on the sea were: Prof. S. Thoma from Germany and Dr A. Tkaczuk from Sweden. A very important and extremely up-to-date topic, the consequences of coxitis in neonates, was widely discusses at the 9th Symposium of the Section, held again in Miedzeszyn.

In 2000, in Poznań, the surgical treatment of congenital talipes varus was the leading subject.

In the year 2001, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Section’s foundation at the Symposium organised in Lodz and concerning Perthes’ disease. Recognised specialists in that field were invited from the whole world, including Prof. T. Catterall and Prof. M. Benson from UK, Prof .A. Herring and Prof. W. Lehman from the USA, Prof. L. Jani, Prof. L. Meiss and Prof. F. Niethard from Germany, and Prof. T. Terjesen from Norway. In the post-event opinion of participants, it was one of the most interesting and best-organised symposia of our Section.

In 2002 in Nałęczów, members of the Section discussed problems connected with developmental hip joint dysplasia until the 2nd year of life, taking into account the needs for surgical intervention. The Symposium hosted then Prof. Viktor Bialik from Israel, an eminent specialist in that issue.

The last Symposium took place this year (2003) in Rzeszów and was devoted to juvenile femoral head desquamation. Again, the Guest of the Symposium was Prof. Klaus Parsch.

The presence of so many eminent guests at the Symposia, organised by the SPO, confirms the role of the Polish paediatric orthopaedics in the world, similarly as the participation of Section members in various scientific congresses all over the world, not only with our presentations but also to moderate scientific sessions or deliver programmatic lectures.

At this time, eight (8) members of our Section are also in the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society (EPOS) (J. Czubak, M. Jóźwiak, P. Koczewski, T. Lejman, M. Napiontek, W. Marczyński, S. Snela and M. Synder), two are members of the Paediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) (T. Lejman and M. Napiontek) and Ass. Prof. Marek Jóźwiak is member of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy. Our international activity is especially vivid during congresses organised by EPOS. We may be proud that, systematically, our presentations have been accepted, following competitions of applied reports with anonymous reviews .The number of our reports accepted for presentation at EPOS Congresses has been high enough to clearly distinguish our national – and still relatively young- group at this European Forum.

Members of the SPO are often invited to moderate scientific sessions or deliver lectures at significant scientific events (M. Napiontek, M. Synder, J. Czubak, M. Jóźwiak). Our Colleagues, Tomasz Karski and Marek Synder, are reviewers of papers submitted to publication in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics Part B and Marek Napiontek in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics – published in America.

The development of the SPO has been possible thanks to the great engagement and passion of all its members. Their activity has contributed to the enormous progress and development in paediatric orthopaedics, including – among others – the implementation of sonographic screening examinations as an early diagnostics of congenital hip joint dysplasia, the application of new techniques in the treatment of congenital talipes varus, children with cerebral palsy and residual dysplasia of the hip joint in adolescents.

In Poland, there are already six (6) clinics of paediatric orthopaedics (Lublin, Poznań, Zakopane, Szczecin, Łódź, Białystok). A special attention deserves the new paediatric ward of orthopaedics and traumatology, opened in Rzeszów 3 years ago at the District Hospital. This ward provides complex treatment to children with defects, malformations and traumas of the motor organs.

The systematic training of members of the Section and their active participation in high-rank congresses of paediatric orthopaedics all over the world give some authorisation to say that the Section of Paediatric Orthopaedics of the our Society is very well prepared to face the challenges which paediatric orthopaedists have to surmount now, as well as through subsequent years of the 21st Century.