Professor Dr. Sergiu Duca - A Pathbreaker

Prof. Dr. Sergiu Duca was born on the 3rd of January 1936 in Dej(Cluj county) and left this world on the 21st of March 2004 inthe IIIrd Surgical Clinic, clinic to which he was tied by an entirearray of events which he had overcome with wisdom andhonesty; clinic which, due to his vision on interpersonalrelationships and to his exceptional accomplishments came tobe known throughout the country.After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine (Cluj) in1959, he worked for 4 years as a district doctor. In 1963 hebecomes Assistant Lecturer of the Anatomy Department (ClujMedical-Pharmaceutic Institute), but after a very short periodwe meet him as Assistant Lecturer of the Surgery I Department,before his transfer in 1970 to the IIIrd Surgical Clinic. Therevolution of 1989 finds him in the position of Lecturer andChief of the IIIrd Surgical Clinic. His exceptional résumé allowshim to become, in only a short period of 2 years, a Professor atthe same clinic.His professionalism and teaching skills propel him into theTeaching Council and the Senate of the “Iuliu HaÃ¥ieganu”University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj â€" Napoca, inwhich, through determination and intransigence, he maintainsan active position, contributing to the rise of the medicaleducational level in Cluj.Innately equipped with dedication and ambition, from hisvery first years of surgery, he sets great objectives, very difficult toattain. Proof of this are the experimental preoccupations relatedto liver transplant, performing in 1975 the first experimentalhepatic transplant in the country. More than this, hedemonstrated that hepatic microcirculation blockage throughfibrin deposition is one of the main causes of failure of hepaticgraft by perfusion under normothermia (article published in 1978in World J. Surgery).Biliary surgery was Prof. Dr. S. Duca’s “adoptive child”,domain in which he reached his most beautiful and greatestaccomplishments. An enthusiast of perfection and details, hehas always sought technical solutions for various problems in anera in which technology was far from the point at which wefind it nowadays. In 1983 he implemented a choledochalexploration technique and an original procedure for Oddisphincterotomy, also developing the instrument necessary forthat particular procedure.An unfortunate incident determines him to intensify hispreoccupations related to iatrogenic lesions of the main biliarytract, also recruiting to this purpose a series of young surgeons,an act which proved extraordinarily beneficial subsequently, inresponse to the increase in number of laparoscopic cholecystectomiesperformed in the country and, implicitly, in the numberof lesions of the main biliary ducts.The progression of technology at the end of the 20thcentury offered new diagnostic and therapeutic options.Visionary and “open-minded”, he performed multiplelaparoscopic procedures, some of them have been done for thefirst time in Romania.Wishing to share the knowledge of these new techniqueswith other fellow national surgeons he opens in 1993 the firstTraining Centre in Laparoscopic Surgery, organizing classeswhich were attended by an impressive number of generalsurgeons, urologists and gynaecologists. With the same aim inmind, he publishes in 1994 the first Romanian monographdedicated to laparoscopic surgery of the biliary tract.Desiring to promote the results of Romanian surgeons, heestablishes is 1993 the Romanian Society of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery, and in 1995 the Romanian Society ofLaparoscopic Surgery, organizing several symposiums andcongresses, with large national and international attendance,initiating a series of collaborations with renown centres bothfrom the country and from abroad, facilitating thusly a series ofexchange programs for young surgeons.The most beautiful and most important aspect ofProf. Dr. S Duca’s activity is that concerning the developmentand continuation of the surgical school of Cluj. He trusted inthe younger generations, he supported and protected youngsurgeon when necessary, mobilized and encouraged them, all bymaintaining at the same time a rigorous and distant image.On the 21st of March 2004, aware of the evolution andprognosis of his disease, defying with dignity the suffering anddiscomfort created by it, passes away in the clinic that broughthim both joys and sorrows, sad and happy moments alike.

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