• „ MEMORIAL ARTICLE

Artur Pietrucha (1964–2020)

Richard Sutton1, Artur Fedorowski2, Michele Brignole3, Angel Moya4

1National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College, Hammersmith Hospital, Department of Cardiology, Du Cane Road, London, W12 OHS, United Kingdom

2Department of Cardiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

3IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Faint & Fall Programme, Ospedale San Luca, Milano, Italy

4Cardiology and Arrhythmia Unit, University Hospital Dexeus, Barcelona, Spain

In these brief memories, we, from among the authors of current European syncope guidelines, would like to honour the memory of our late colleague, Dr. Artur Pietrucha (Figure 1), whose life deeply impacted ours.

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In Artur’s short life, he became a world name in syncope care and research. He was denied the opportunity to contribute so much more of what he had to the field by the tragic intervention of COVID-19 in 2020.

I first met Artur in Dubai at the 2012 World Congress of Cardiology where we both presented on syncope in the same session. He had two abstracts to my one. I was immediately impressed with his innovative ideas and the warmth of his personality. We came to know each other after that session. Three months later, I visited Krakow, Poland at his invitation to address the medical community at the John Paul II hospital where Artur worked. My wife travelled with me. We received generous hospitality from Artur and his paediatric cardiologist wife, Beata.

Artur and I kept up from 2012 and met at numerous scientific meetings. He never failed to produce ideas that were unique and original. He repeatedly invited me to return to Krakow but, unfortunately, shortage of time prevented me from going. Nevertheless, we kept in close contact even during his illness trying to give him support. We are very happy to include Beata among our close friends.

The world has lost a fine physician, a great thinker and a very kind person. Long may his memory endure.

Richard Sutton

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I met Artur for the first time around ten years ago while visiting prof. Jadwiga Nessler in Krakow. He made a deep impression on me by sharing his ideas on the use of cerebral oximetry in syncope evaluation, neuroendocrine changes in cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction, and hypercoagulability in syndromes of orthostatic intolerance. Most of these ideas created a solid ground for our future research, now recognized all over the world. We met again many times and, most spectacularly, during our session on syncope at the 22nd International Congress of the Polish Cardiac Society in Krakow in 2018, when we were joined by Michele Brignole and Angel Moya (Figure 1). However, my last memory of Artur is the most emotional one. In November 2020, I was sitting on a train from Malmo to Stockholm while Artur was lying on a hospital bed in Warsaw. We talked for 2 hours on the phone, about everything, his condition, our common research projects, his family – he did not want me to stop. Then, in the end, Artur said, “As soon as I feel better again, I will be back at my office to take care of my patients. I can’t wait to see them again”. I could not say a word. Artur was a real doctor, the one that you would wish to be yours.

Artur Fedorowski

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I met Artur for the first time around 25 years ago when he visited my Syncope Unit at Lavagna Hospital, Italy. At that time, his Director of Cardio­logy Department in Krakow, prof. Wieslawa Piwowarska, wanted to start a similar unit and she found an enthusiastic junior doctor, Artur Pietrucha, to assign to that task. Since then, I met Artur regularly during international meetings always finding him enthusiastic and passionate about syncope. Last time I met him was during the 22nd International Congress of the Polish Cardiac Society in Krakow in 2018, together with Artur Federowski and Angel Moya (Figure 1). We spent a couple of happy days receiving generous hospitality from Artur, his wife Beata, and his son Wojciech, to whom go my sincere condolences and friendship.

Michele Brignole

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I had the opportunity to meet Artur in 2018, when he invited me, together with Artur Fedorowski and Michele Brignole, to participate in the 22nd International Congress of the Polish Cardiac Societyin Krakow.

I was so impressed by his enthusiasm in developing a well-structured syncope unit in his hospital, for the organization of the syncope session at the congress, and for his warm welcome to Krakow.

I have a great memory of the days we spent visiting Krakow, with his enthusiasm and erudition with his wife Beata and his son Wojciech. I have at home the painting of Krakow that he gave us with great generosity.

I was deeply saddened by the loss of a friend so young and so enthusiastic about medicine, life, and his city. I will always keep a very fond and vivid memory of him.

May I express my warmest condolences and friendship to his family.

Angel Moya

Article informations

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Open access: This article is available in open access under Creative Common Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, allowing to download articles and share them with others as long as they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially. For commercial use, please contact the journal office at kardiologiapolska@ptkardio.pl.

How to cite: Sutton R, Fedorowski A, Brignole M, Moya A. Artur Pietrucha (1964–2020). Kardiol Pol. 2021; 79(6): 720–721, doi: 10.33963/KP.a2021.0039.