Year: 2015
Type: other
Abstract: First, the how. Ferenc had a rather uncanny ability to read people's strengths and weaknesses practically on sight. He would then, bluntly, alarmingly, and with a harsh Hungarian accent, alert individuals of his assessments. Of course he was not always right (who is?), but his confidence, character, and strength of conviction left little doubt as to the most sensible course of action to take, sensitivity to egos aside. Such frank assessments (pun intended) and the indelible impressions they made led to highly personal decisions which guided the paths of many futures, generally for the better. Thus instead of being remembered as one of the visionary image guided surgery (IGS) pioneers, which of course he was, he could equally well be considered an extraordinary guidance counselor within the oft bewildering environment of medical academia. Undergraduates, post-docs, MDs, PhDs, indeed anyone who had the privilege of flying within his orbit benefited from his brutal grace. Now the why. Although he had an unquestionable thirst for new knowledge, it came with some impatience, especially if details got in the way of his big dreams, dreams that spurred colleagues to test uncharted waters on his behalf, sometimes fruitfully and sometimes not. In the latter category falls an early 1990s attempt to administer commercial gadolinium based contrast agents by nasal ingestion - I (R.V.M.) never saw Ferenc cry so hard in response to the hyperosmotic assault to his sinuses (do not try this at home!). In the more fruitful category are the many direct image guided interventions that began in the mid-nineties, although envisioned well-before. These include the double-donut magnet technology he pioneered in conjunction with industry which allowed brain surgeons to remove tumors during MRI scans and assess their manipulations as they operated, ongoing MR guided focused ultrasound projects complete with MR based temperature monitoring which has found many applications, for example in uterine fibroid treatment. And of course his last crowning achievement – the Amazing Multi-modality Image Guided Operating (AMIGO) suite now bristling with advanced interventional MR, US, CT, and fluoroscopy technology within a sterile surgical environment. The last year of his life saw not only the publication of an 863 page book “Interoperative Imaging and Image Guided Therapy” which he edited but also extremely favorable ratings for the renewal for his P41 NIH contract that has supported, along with industry, a vast array of past and current IGS applications carried on by a large group of productive scientists, engineers, and medical specialists. Ferenc leaves an impressive legacy and it is remarkable to note that his energy, enthusiasm, and irrepressible “joie de vivre” came on top of a major medical condition permeating the last third of his life, a condition that would have incapacitated lesser men. One of us (R.V.M.) had the pleasure of meeting and working with him before the medical catastrophe and before the full-blown onset of the image guidance career, when Ferenc was involved with more basic science endeavors. Entering a small laboratory in the mid-eighties, I saw a host of MIT undergraduates slicing up rodents and placing selected organs into test tubes for MR relaxation measurements in efforts to elucidate fundamental aspects of relaxation in tissue, including the bio-distribution of gadolinium contrast agents. Soon, the people working for him also began to study the effects of “destructive energy” on tissue relaxation properties, hot, cold, and chemical, in a prelude to his growing interest in image guided interventions. Even as early as 1986 he was heard guest lecturing in Switzerland about future patients lying on a surgery table beneath which lurked magnetic field generating coils which would allow the surgeon to stand freely over the patient guided by MRI in an open environment. Later he even talked of an entire room filled with a homogeneous 1.5 Tesla magnetic field, Maxwell's equations be damned! The truly lasting spin-offs of his creative imagination, however, lay in the realm of direct interventional guidance. He wanted to see individual patients being treated with his ideas and he did, many times. I recall once in between the basic science years and his IGS oriented years later in life, I was explaining some rather complicated relaxation model and suddenly he grabbed my arm and, eyes wide and unflinching, pinched me hard and stated that he would like me to think about how he could “pinch here and see the response there!”, pointing to my head and presaging the fMRI revolution. Although he never seemed to take a real interest in fMRI after its popular explosion, I believe because fMRI does not directly treat people, this vignette serves as just a typical example of his insight and creative thinking, often when being confronted with boring details! That was him, always exciting and fascinating to interact with. Loved and respected by so many, especially those of us who got to see his many sides, including his inordinate knowledge and fondness of food in its sundry preparations from Hungary to the Far East. We will miss him dearly and know how much his loving wife Anna and his two daughters will as well. Bon Voyage Ferenc. Thank you for the truly great memories and guidance in so many aspects of life.
Source: Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
DOI: 10.1002/mrm.25777
Authors: Robert V. Mulkern, Clare M. Tempany
Institutions: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital
Language: English
Topic: History of Medical Practice
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2106833453