[Life achievements of Dr. Dusan Kentera (1925-1999). Aspects of pulmonary circulation].
Dusan Kentera was born on April 2nd 1925 in Stip. He finished high school in Belgrade in 1944, graduated from Medical school, University of Belgrade in 1951, and completed his internal medicine residency in 1957. In 1960 he fulfilled the requirements for the teaching position at the University with a thesis "The use of dilution methods in the study of circulation" and defended his PhD thesis "Hemodynamic characteristics of pulmonary hypertension with increased precapillary resistance" in 1964 at the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade. Dusan Kentera was awarded Swedish government's scholarship in 1958 and spent a year in the laboratory of Gustav Nylin in Stockholm. As a fellow of the National Institutes of Health, he spent 15 months at the Institute of Physiology at The Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, USA, in the Laboratory of William F. Hamilton in 1962 and 1963. As a "visiting scientist" he spent three months in Memorial Research Center, University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, USA, in 1972. In 1980 and again in 1988 Dusan Kentera gave a series of lectures at leading medical research institutions in USA, including Medical School, University of Colorado in Denver, Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans, University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis, and Texas Research and Rehabilitation Institute in Houston. He spent his career in research at the Institute for Medical Research in Belgrade, where he was appointed Research Fellow in 1952 and became Professor of Research in 1976. Simultaneously, he held teaching position at the Institute of Physiology, School of Dentistry, University of Belgrade, where he was appointed first Instructor in 1952 and full Professor in 1977. In 1964, Dusan Kentera founded the Laboratory for Hemodynamics at the Institute for Medical Research, which he headed until retirement in 1991. He was Assistant Director of the Institute for Medical Research from 1974 until 1978 and Director from 1978 until 1991. He was very much involved in postgraduate teaching at the Medical School, University of Belgrade, where he lectured at the courses in Pulmonary Diseases and Cardiology until death. Numerous Master and PhD theses were completed under his mentorship and in his Laboratory. Many of his students hold at present leading positions in academic institutions worldwide. As a researcher, Dusan Kentera has an outstanding record. He published 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals and authored chapters in several books. Main research interest of Dusan Kentera was related to cardiovascular pathophysiology, particularly in the fields of regulation of pulmonary circulation and pathogenesis of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension, control mechanisms in systemic circulation and pathogenesis of arterial hypertension, contractility of skeletal muscles and myocardium, and control mechanisms in regional circulation. Most impressive, by significance and extent, is his work on the regulation of pulmonary circulation and particularly on the pathogenesis of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. Most of the research on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension was done on experimental model that he established. As opposed to all other models, which employed hypobaric hypoxia with consequent hypocapnia, in his model experimental animals were exposed to normobaric hypoxia and controlled level of carbon dioxide, thus most closely simulating hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in humans. Using this model, he examined the role of numerous factors in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. His pioneering work in this field is well incorporated into today's understanding of the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying hypoxic pulmonary hypertension as well as in therapeutic approaches to this disorder Dusan Kentera was always recognized as an outstanding figure in scientific community, yet awards and formal acknowledgments somehow by-passed him. He did share though the October Award of the City of Belgrade for research with his long time friend Dr. Vladislav Varagić in 1976. Dusan Kentera died on his birthday, April 2nd 1999. As an inspired teacher, outstanding scientist, authoritative leader and, above all, as wonderful human being, he set high standards for coming generations. It is on his disciples to carry on.
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D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D015272:Pulmonary Medicine / Q000266:history*; D015022:Yugoslavia