100th anniversary of the Otolaryngology Chair and and Department of the Stefan Batory University(Part I)

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> After regaining independence, work immediately began to revive the University of Vilnius. Already on 30 December 30, 1918, the Polish Committee in Vilnius announced the establishment of the University of Vilnius, closed by the Russians in 1832, under the name Stefan Batory University. The Chair and Department of Otolaryngology was established on July 31, 1923, when Dr. Jan Szmurło was nominated as a full professor of laryngology and otiatry and was appointed as chief. The beginnings of the activity were very difficult, the Faculty of Medicine, University Chairs and Departments had to be created from scratch.<b>Aim:</b> The aim of the work was to present the establishment and activities of the Chair and Department of Otolaryngology of the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, which existed from 1923 to 1939.<b>Description:</b> The Vilnius Department was known and appreciated not only in the country, but also abroad. Its most important achievements include: the creation of one of the first Speech and Voice Disorders Department, scientific works in the field of voice and speech disorders and vertigo, which laid the foundations for the creation of separate sciences in Poland – phoniatrics and otoneurology, publishing the only complete textbook on otorhinolaryngology, research works on a global scale over the scleroderma.<b>Conclusions:</b> Despite its short operation (only 16 years), the Vilnius Deparment has made an invaluable contribution to the development of otorhinolaryngology not only in the country, but also in the world.