The origin and developmet of the field

The current form of paediatric haematology and oncology in our country was formed throughout several decades.

CHILDREN'S HAEMATOLOGY

Originally until the end of World War II, haematopoietic disorders fell under the department of general paediatrics. The founder of modern Czech paediatric haematology as a separate study is prof. Otto Hrodek, DrSc., whom in the 1950’s together with authors Janel and Mitera published the first textbook on Haematopoietic disorders in childhood. In 1985 prof. Hrodek initiated the establishment of the Workgroup of Paediatric Haematology (PSDH) in order to centralize care in specialized centers and recommended the management of treatment of children with leukaemia, according to the German BFM protocol. The updated BFM protocols are followed at our workplace still today.

 

CHILDREN'S ONCOLOGY

In the mid-1960s children in the Czechoslovakia began to devote prof. MUDr. Josef Koutecký, DrSc. In 1974, he managed to build a separate Children´s Oncology Station. Subsequently, the Department of Paediatric Oncology (1976) was formed where prof. Koutecký was primary. In Czechoslovakia, the first extensive monograph on children's tumors was published by prof. Koutecký in 1978. The first independent Clinic of Paediatric Oncology in Czechoslovakia was founded on June 1, 1983 at the Motol University Hospital, which houses the largest workplace for the treatment of childhood malignancies in the Czech Republic until today.