Jan Mikulicz-Radecki: one of the creators of world surgery

Abstract

This paper presents the life and achievements of Professor Jan Mikulicz-Radecki and his contribution to European and world surgery. He was born in 1850. Four periods can be distinguished in his surgical career: (1) Vienna period, 1875-82, when he worked by the side of the great Theodor Billroth: he introduced a number of new diagnostic and operative techniques, aseptic and antiseptic procedures, published research papers. He made the first endoscope for examining the esophagus and stomach. (2) Cracow period, 1882-87, when he was head of the Department of Surgery: he inaugurated his work with a lecture in Polish, which started: Gentlemen, I have been accused that I do not know the Polish language--which is my mother tongue to me as well as to any of you. He published papers on the use of iodophorm for healing wounds, was the first surgeon who sutured a perforated gastric ulcer (1885) and invented pyloroplasty (1887), nowadays called Heinecke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty. (3) Konigsberg period, 1887-90: he improved the technique of gastric resection, worked on surgery for peptic ulcer and advocated aseptic and antiseptic procedures. (4) Wroclaw (Breslau) period, 1890- 1905: Mikulicz was appointed head of a newly founded Surgical Department. He rebuilt it and designed one of the largest and most modern operating theaters in Europe that time. He introduced silk gloves for operations for the first time in the world. In 1892 he described bilateral swelling of salivary and lacrimal glands, called Mikulicz's syndrome; in 1902 he published his experience with two-stage colon resection; and in 1904 he described ostitis fibrosa cystica juvenilis. Called "a king in the kingdom of surgeons", he was one of the fathers of the world's modern surgery; having a brilliant surgical mind, he was a pioneer of many new operations and an inventor of surgical tools, permanently assimilated in the world's surgery.

History of colorectal surgery

“…In his career, he developed intestinal surgery and endoscopy, proposing new operations, such as the staged procedure for sigmoidectomy, and in particular, he was a pioneer of antisepsis. He died in 1905 in Breslaw of a gastric cancer that he diagnosed by himself [13,34].…”

Endoscopic approaches to gastroparesis

“…Thus, it is reasonable to postulate that therapies aiming to eliminate the pyloric barrier may improve symptoms in patients with gastroparesis. Surgical pyloroplasty (HeineckeMikulicz) for gastric drainage was first described in the 19th century [41] and remains a useful surgical tool in the treatment of refractory disease. This technique can be performed safely laparoscopically.…”

A People to People Nursing Experience in Poland

“…Jan Mikulicz‐Radecki invented the rigid gastroscope in 1881 and was the first to endoscopically diagnose stomach cancer 6 . After meeting Joseph Lister, the father of aseptic technique, Mikulicz‐Radecki later changed practices in his hospital in Krakow, improving hygienic issues in the OR where he began doing such procedures as thyroidectomy, gastric resection for cancer, and transvaginal hysterectomy 6 . On April 24, 1885, he became the first surgeon in the world to suture a perforated gastric ulcer, and in February 1887 he invented pyloroplasty, which is still used today.…”

“…In 1890, he took a new post where he helped finish a new, aseptic operating theater that was the largest and most modern in Europe at the time. He then organized new chemical, bacteriology, and pathology laboratories; ran biological tests on surgical tools and surgeons' hands; and was the first surgeon in the world to introduce the wearing of silk gloves and surgical masks during surgeries 6 …”