Pulmonology Clinic II

After the Second World War, the tuberculosis endemic being at terribly high levels in our country, there was a need to delimit a discipline that would take care of both the epidemiological situation and the fate of the patients. These were the premises and the framework in which the discipline of phthisiology appeared, which at national level developed a network of autonomous hospitals or hospital wards, student preventers, sanatoriums; a centralized national program was developed, all of which were recruited to combat tuberculosis.

The phthisiology clinic in Timisoara also appeared in the context described above and has a history that could be delimited in the following intervals:

• Interval 1948-1952: Starting with the academic year 1948/1949, it was introduced as a study discipline in the analytical program of I.M. Timisoara, phthisiology. The discipline was led by Conf.Dr. F. Rona, to the didactic activity bringing his contribution 4 heads of works (N. Radulescu, B. Scwartrz, E. Klein, I. Rorich) and 3 assistants (A. Babiuc, A. Nicolicin, I. Berdach). The clinical basis of the didactic activity of the discipline was constituted by the phthisiology department of the "Epidemic Hospital" (later became the Hospital no. 4 V. Babes), with a number of 120 beds. During this initial period, along with ensuring the didactic activity with the students, the priority concern was the establishment, material endowment and commissioning of some services / offices of absolute necessity both for the care of the patients and for the didactic process. It was put into operation, with insufficient but enthusiastic staff and with an extremely modest material endowment, an operating room in which Dr. I. Rorich performed the first thoracic surgery interventions (thoracoplasties, extrapleural pneumothorax, phrenicectomies). The bronchology office was set up, in which Dr. M. Negrea performed the first bronchoscopes with improvised equipment; the radiology service performs, also in conditions of improvisation, and only in special cases radiographs. And in the laboratory, only microscopic examinations could be performed to detect the Koch bacillus.
• Interval 1951-1956: With the academic year 1951/1952 the restructuring of the IMT took place, with a drastic reduction of the teaching staff, the phthisiology clinic having a norm of chief of works occupied by Dr. E. Klein. It is a period of consolidation of the acquisitions from the previous interval and of a modest beginning of a scientific activity. The radiology service was equipped with a radioscopy-radiography device and a horizontal tomograph, and the bronchology office purchased a new bronchoscope. The thoracic surgery department was delimited, initially with a small number of beds, later in a progressive increase up to 50 beds. The first scientific communications of the Phthisiology team were presented in the phthisiology section of the Timis Society of Medical Sciences.
• Interval 1956-1961: The head of the discipline became Assoc. Prof. Dr. C. Anastasatu, seconded in the teaching activity by Dr. E. Diaconescu as an assistant.

  The period was characterized both by a prodigious development of scientific activity with a very wide theme, and by the modernization of the clinic's services. Clinical research has been done on the indications and results of the introduction in tuberculosis therapy of some antituberculosis drugs, recently entered into use, of corticotherapy, of some particular forms of tuberculosis, etc. New work compartments appeared within the same modernization action: the resuscitation service, the functional exploration laboratory, the transfusion point, the thematic file of the observation sheets.

• Interval 1975-1976: Following the death of Conf. Șt. Dumitru's teaching activity was carried out by the two nurses of the clinic: Dr. D. Neagoe and Dr. V. Luta.
• Interval 1977-1991: In 1977, through a competition, Dr. D. Cioflec became head of works and head of the discipline. By withdrawing from I.M.T. of Dr. V. Luta, vacancies an assistant position, which was filled by competition in 1983, by Dr. V. Tudorache. From 1991 Dr. D. Cioflec became an associate professor, a quality he kept until his retirement, and also from the same year Dr. V. Tudorache held the position of head of works through a competition, becoming the head of the discipline. During this period, two courses for students were published in 1981 and 1989, and a chapter on phthisiology in the textbook of internal medicine. The discipline team led 40 diploma works.

  Given the tendency of recrudescence of the tuberculosis endemic, the weight of the scientific activity was directed towards the evaluation of the endemic state and of the antituberculous activities; the researches having as theme the application of the methodology for preventing and combating TB in the concrete conditions of the rounded counties.

  Since the 1983s, in close collaboration with the laboratory team, new immunological tests have been introduced in clinical practice that has changed the pathogenic approach and understanding of some aspects of the pathology of lung infections. As a result, a multitude of works has been elaborated in which certain concepts of immunopathogenesis of some chronic, pulmonary infectious diseases have been formulated and alternatives of immunomodulation and / or immunochemotherapy have been proposed.

• The interval 1990-2014: A definitely productive stage began after 1989, a turning point for the whole country.