What’s your name and age?
Kryspin Mitura, 47 years.
Where do you come from?
Poland.
How long have you been an EHS member?
16 years.
Describe a day at work as a surgeon in your country:
Since I live in a medium-sized city, I am close to my hospital, so I need to get up just before seven in the morning to be at work by eight. We start the day with a briefing, and then part of the team goes to the operating rooms, and the rest go to rounds, and then to consultation or diagnostic rooms. We finish work after all elective surgeries scheduled for that day are completed, usually between 2 and 5 p.m. While in hospital, I only have time for a few coffees as I run my department, and I have to wait until I get home for a well-deserved meal. On some days there are additional duties at the university. Every day I must find time for at least an hour on the treadmill or in the gym. Despite this, there is still time for my family, some free time, scientific work and an interesting movie. In order not to burn out too early, for many years I have been following the rule that I must spend at least one week away with my family each month.
What is your favourite AWR procedure/hernia surgery?
Open retromuscular repair for giant incisional multirecurrent hernias.
Who inspired you to become a hernia enthusiast/surgeon?
After my first year of residency, I met a professor of surgery whom I asked for help in guiding my scientific development. He told me to do what I do most often. At this stage it was obviously hernia repair. So I started and immediately fell in love in pursuit for perfection related to hernia repair.
It is also worth mentioning that at the same time, my other colleagues in my team said that hernia research is irrational, because everything had already been established a long time ago 🙂
Please, give a small tip or trick to share for this or any other hernia procedure?
While performing educational activities for surgeons in my country, at some point I started to write down the remarks I usually suggest performing during surgery by the trainees. Now the list consists of more than a hundred small tips in the groin alone, so it is hard to indicate just one.
Personally, I find the most useful a meticulous dissection and gentle tissue handling. Fascia, peritoneum and muscles are our friends, so we should treat them accordingly.
Have you attended an EHS congress, meeting, or course?
I have attended all EHS congresses since 2007 except two meetings. One missed meeting was in Ghent due to my expedition to Antarctica (the furthest overlap a surgeon can reach on our planet 🙂 and the second one I missed in Prague, while I summited Mt. Everest early this year (the biggest hernia of the Earth’s surface 🙂
Which made the biggest impression you?
I was impressed by the first ever congress I’ve attended, which took place in Seville, Spain. I felt like I’ve entered the new, earlier unknown world of science, passion and perfection in everyday practice.
What made it great?
At that time, it was surprising for me that previously unknown people were talking to each other, smiling, sharing common interests and passions. And I saw the change that is coming from research, development of new ideas, the discussions really leading to a constant progress, because hernia surgery hasn’t said the last word yet.
How can the EHS help you in the future?
As I try to focus on teaching younger surgeons with new and appropriate surgical techniques in hernia surgery, it would be beneficial for our trainees if they could confront their knowledge and abilities at other affordable educational activities in different centers around Europe.
…and maybe there should be more of a round table discussion, where regular front-line surgeons could express their thoughts and ideas on hernia issues.
What is your dream for the future of hernia surgery?
I hope that someday none of the patients would suffer from an incisional hernia, excluding them from joyful life, condemned to search for a proficient surgeon who would fix it once for all.