Prof
Momir Polenakovic
Professor of Nephrology and former Head of the Nephrology Unit
University Skopje Hospital
Skopje, F.Y.R.M.
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Prof
Momir Polenakovic |
Dr Massy: Why did you go into medicine?
Prof Polenakovic: As a child I liked biology very much and wanted to learn and to know more about the human body. During my high school days I was in the Red Cross and worked with and helped sick and disabled people. My family, especially my mother, supported me in my going in for medicine. I graduated from the Medical Faculty at the University in Skopje in 1963 with a MD degree.
Dr Massy: How did you become interested in renal diseases? How important were your mentors in your choices?
Prof Polenakovic: I was in the fourth year of my medical studies when Prof D. Hrisoho invited me to collaborate with him and to collect the medical records of renal patients hospitalised at our Department of Medicine during the year 1960. I saw more patients with renal diseases from the village of Vitino, Kosovo, Serbia than from any other villages in either Macedonia or Serbia. The clinical picture of those patients was an insidious onset of the disease, anaemia, fatigue, signs of uraemia and similar ailments. They were farmers. We published our results. That was a description of a new area in Yugoslavia with Balkan endemic nephropathy.The challenge was great and I accepted the suggestion of my mentor Prof. Hrisoho to devote myself to renal medicine, i.e. to nephrology.
Dr Massy: Could tell us the lessons we can learn from your experience regarding nephrology in Macedonia?
Prof Polenakovic: The beginning was difficult. It was necessary to have great courage, enthusiasm, to love renal patients, and then to develop nephrology. The most important thing is to select good promising doctors and to educate them. It is also necessary to have support from the government.
Dr Massy: What are the landmarks in Macedonian nephrology?
Prof Polenakovic: The first dialysis (HD) was performed in 1959 using a Kolff-Brigham renal rotating drum artificial kidney on a patient with acute renal failure. In 1965 we obtained a new Websinger artificial kidney with a sigmamotor pump, and with the possibilities of using a Kolff twin-coil disposable dialyser.
In 1971 the chronic intermittent haemodialysis programme started with five Stuttgard Fresenius machines. Kolff twin coil disposable dialysers were used.
The Department of Nephrology was founded at the Medical Faculty of the University of Skopje at the end of 1974. It has been a key institution for the further development of nephrology in the Republic of Macedonia.
Since 1970 percutaneous renal biopsies have been performed. The first renal transplants were performed in 1977. CAPD, plasmapheresis and creation of vascular access are in regular use, as well as renal ultrasound examinations and bone and prostate biopsies.
In 1970 the Nephrology Section was formed as a part of the Macedonian Medical Association. The Balkan Cities Association for Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation and Artificial Organs (BANTAO) was established in Ohrid in 1993. The first BANTAO Congress was held in 1995 in Varna. The successful Congresses in Varna (1995), Struga (1997), Belgrade (1998), Izmir (1999), Thessaloniki (2001) and Varna (2003) followed, and established BANTAO as the major forum of Balkan nephrologists, indicating our will to communicate, to collaborate, to get to know each other and to share our difficulties. More than a professional event, the BANTAO Congress became a cultural phenomenon, through which we discovered that we have many more things in common than we previously thought, and that we must take every advantage now of being able to live and communicate in a world without political boundaries.
Dr Massy: Reasoning on a global and/or European scale, what is, in your opinion, the best way to help a country like Macedonia to progress in research?
Prof Polenakovic: Help with the education of young, gifted doctors. Mutual collaboration on scientific research projects and exchange of experts. Help with modern equipment. Help with publishing the results of the studies.
Dr Massy: How do you foresee Macedonian nephrology in 2015? What kind of organisational, technical and scientific evolution do you see in 10 years' time?
Prof Polenakovic: The challenge of the new millennium is the prevention of diseases. I expect an improvement in the early diagnosis of renal diseases, better therapy (genetic and other) to postpone the progression of the diseases to ESRF, and more renal transplants from cadaver and living donors. We can also expect xenotransplantation.
Dr Massy: Who are the colleagues that you admire most for their intellectual acumen and for their scientific and ethical rigour?
Prof Polenakovic: H. Klinkmann from Rostock, Germany; P. Ivanovich, F. Carone, R. Jennings and E. Potter from the Northwestern University, Chicago, USA; J.S. Cameron from Guy's Hospital, London, UK; Shaul Massry from Los Angeles, USA; Garabed Eknoyan from Houston, USA; J. Vienken from Bad Homburg, Germany; R. Vanholder from Gent, Belgium. All of them are excellent.
Dr Massy: How do you relax in your time away from your work?
Prof Polenakovic: I collect stamps.
We would like to thank Dr Goce Spasovski for his help in this interview.
