Division of Pathophysiology

Division of Pathophysiology
In the Division of Pathophysiology, Prof. Hugon Kowarzyk realised two ideas.

The first, whose concept began to germinate before World War II, framed the apparently simple phenomenon of coagulation and fibrinolysis as the immensely complex and balanced phenomenon of proteolysis. Under extraordinarily difficult conditions, this concept was developed further in the first modern coagulogical laboratory established in Wrocław after the war. Here, Professor Kowarzyk discovered a very strong coagulation effect on clot fibrinolysis and confirmed the protease nature of thrombin for the first time in 1952 in the journal “Nature.” Together with K. Buluk, he developed the euglobulin method for fibrinolysis, which is used worldwide, and used cryoprecipitate for the first time to treat bleeding in haemophiliacs, and discovered antiprothrombin C together with Ewa Marciniak, PhD. This was an achievement of great magnitude; it was shown to be about factor X activity. This discovery explained the autocatalytic conversion of prothrombin to thrombin.

 A bovine prothrombin preparation with a degree of purification equal to that of Walther Seegers and with the same properties was then obtained. The possibility of obtaining this preparation fully validated the so-called autocatalytic theory of prothrombin conversion. In later studies, he drew attention to the role of the spleen in adrenaline-induced blood clotting.

The second idea of Prof. H. Kowarzyk was vectocardiography, i.e. the vector study of the electric field of the human heart. He began his vectocardiographic work by building an axonocardiograph, which allowed a perspective spatial image of the human heart vectocardiogram. Together with his wife Prof. Zofia Kowarzykowa, he conducted many clinical studies and the results were published in 1961 in the book Spatial Vectorcardiography. Work on vectocardiographic lead systems led to the construction of an original multi-electrode vectocardiographic lead network called the diamondoid, built on the principle of dual Platonic figures. The diamondoid network made it possible to take vectocardiographic images regardless of the geometric irregularity of the chest and the asymmetrical position of the heart. The diamondoid network showed an analogy in operation with the Rijlant's network.
The operation of both networks could be simulated using numerical matrices. Thus, knowing only the distribution of the cardioelectric potential on the chest, it was possible to reproduce vectocardiograms, even without the use of a network. This was the beginning of a new form of vectocardiography, which we now call numerical vectocardiography.

In 1959, Prof. Kowarzyk organised the first international symposium on vectocardiography in Wrocław with the participation of doctors, engineers, physicists and mathematicians involved in electrocardiological research. He thus initiated the annual international meetings initially called Vectocardiography Colloquia, then International Symposium and now Electrocardiography Congresses. Professor Kowarzyk was a member of the Honorary Committee of these congresses.

The third area that Prof. Kowarzyk was involved in was cytogenetic research. His contribution to this research was to create the concept of chromosome populations and to study the distance between chromosome populations. In this respect, he conducted a great deal of research with the mathematician Prof. Hugo Steinhaus, the results of which are contained in a series of papers published between 1965 and 1968. Prof. Kowarzyk was keenly interested in the application of mathematical sciences to medicine and believed that biological and medical phenomena should be analysed and described rigorously using mathematical and physical methods. He died in Wrocław on 7 March 1985. He has educated numerous generations of doctors. Under his guidance, many doctors and natural scientists obtained their doctoral or postdoctoral degrees. His work is being continued in Wrocław by Prof. Jozef Jagielski, several students, among them Prof. Maria Kotschy, and abroad by Prof. Ewa Marciniak.

Prof. Józef Jagielski was appointed head of the Department of Pathophysiology in 1987. In his doctoral and postdoctoral theses, he demonstrated the evolution of electrocardiograms and vectocardiograms in newborns. Teams led by Józef Jagielski developed research in electrocardiology, electrophysiology, genetics, biocybernetics and blood coagulation. Achievements in these areas include: the demonstration of the multipole nature of the electric field of the human heart (together with Prof. Jan Mozrzymas), the introduction of the latest method for examining the heart — heart mapping, the development of computer methods for examining evoked potentials from the human cortex and brainstem (Andrzej Maciejowski, PhD), as well as the organisation of the Centre for Electronic Computing Technology (ECT) and the development of genetic counselling. In 1991, Prof. Józef Jagielski organised the XVIII International Congress of Electrocardiology in Warsaw. He was a member of the Board of the International Society of Electrocardiology.

He developed medical genetics particularly intensively and introduced a new field of study — clinical genetics. Research was conducted in four main fields: clinical genetics, application of mathematical methods to the analysis of chromosomes and DNA (Henryk Filipowski, PhD), genetic research in cancer (Prof. Olga Haus), mutagenesis (Prof. Maria Sąsiadek) and molecular DNA analysis (Prof. Tadeusz Dobosz).

In the Department of Pathophysiology, led by Prof. Jagielski, the only pioneering study of cardiac mapping in ischaemic heart disease in Poland was conducted since 1990. In 2001, the first research into cardiac genetics was initiated. They are very important for detecting mutations that lead to cardiac arrhythmias. The Department of Pathophysiology had a DNA Laboratory, where DNA was isolated from human blood cells and the genetic code deciphered on a sequencer. Detection of gene mutations for heart disease contributes to cardiovascular prevention.

Prof. Józef Jagielski was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Electrocardiology and coordinated all electrocardiology research in Poland with international programmes. In the field of genetics, he collaborated with Prof. Nikolaus Blin of the University of Tübingen (Nobel Prize).

Heads of Department of Pathophysiology

• 1945 – 1987 Prof. Hugon Kowarzyk
• 1987 – 2004 Prof. Józef Jagielski
• 2004 – 2021 Prof. Witold Pilecki
• Since 2021 – Tadeusz Sebzda, PhD (Division of Pathophysiology, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology)

prepared by: Tadeusz Sebzda

• dr hab. Tadeusz Sebzda: śr.11:00 -12:00;
• lek. Sebastain Wirzman: śr. 9:00-11:00;
• dr inż. Lech Kipiński: wt. 8:00 -10:00 (+ indywidualnie po ustaleniu telefonicznym);
• lek. Iwona Pudełko: pt.18:45 - 19:15;
• dr Wioletta Szczepaniak: śr. 8:45- 9:45;
• dr Karolina Lindner - Pawłowicz: pn.12:30 - 13:30;
• dr Barbara Dziadkowiec - Macek: -------
• lek. Jakub Dynia: ------

1. Patofizjologia (Pathophysiology) - Wydział Lekarski

2. Pathophysiology (Patofizjologia) - Faculty of Medicine

Przedmiot Patofizjologia dla studentów Wydziału Lekarskiego filia w Wałbrzychu

Zakres merytoryczny oraz daty ćwiczeń znajdują się w plikach do pobrania.
Sylabus z zasadami zaliczenia przedmiotu można pobrać z bazy sylabusów UMW: www.sylabusy.umw.edu.pl/pl

Adiunkt dydaktyczny
dr Wojciech Woźniak
pokój numer 6 (budynek przy ul. Chałubińskiego 10)
tel.: 71 784 14 27
e-mail: wojciech.wozniak@umw.edu.pl 

Subject 2024/2025: Pathophysiology/Patofizjologia

Syllabus/ Sylabus 2024/2025: 
Timetable/Plan zajęć:
Exam timetable/Kalendarz egzaminów: 

CONSULTATION HOURS for ALL ED STUDENTS – summer semester 2024-2025

• lek. Jakub Dynia: --------

Didactic supervisor
dr Agnieszka Witek
room 5 (Chalubinskiego 10)
tel.: 71 784 14 26
e-mail: a.witek@umw.edu.pl 

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Main research directions of the Division of Pathophysiology
 

1. Electrocardiology.

• modelling the electric field of the heart.
• heart mapping.
• comupter ECG analysis in ischaemic heart disease.
• prevention of cardiovascular disease.
• erectile dysfunction research.

2. Evoked brain potentials (visual, auditory, somatosensory).

3. Brain mapping.