Rom J Morphol Embryol 2018, 59(4):1299–1303 ISSN (print) 1220–0522 ISSN (online) 2066–8279 SHORT HISTORICAL REVIEW Neurosurgery in Romania in the centenary of the Great Union (1918–2018) AUREL GEORGE MOHAN 1) , MIRCEA VICENŢIU SĂCELEANU 2) , ANDREI ALEXANDRU MARINESCU 3) , MIHAI POPESCU 4) , ALEXANDRU VLAD CIUREA 3,5) 1) Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oradea, Romania; Department of Neurosurgery, Bihor Emergency County Hospital, Oradea, Romania 2) Department of Neurosurgery, “Victor Papilian” Faculty of Medicine, “Lucian Blaga” University, Sibiu, Romania; Department of Neurosurgery, Emergency County Hospital, Sibiu, Romania 3) “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania 4) Department of Medical Assistance and Kinetotherapy, Faculty of Sciences, Physical Education and Informatics, University of Piteşti, Romania; Department of Neurosurgery, Emergency Hospital of Argeş County, Piteşti, Romania 5) Department of Neurosurgery, “Sanador Medical Center” Hospital, Bucharest, Romania Motto: “The people that do not know their history resemble children that do not know their parents.” Nicolae Iorga (1871–1940) Abstract Neurosurgery is one of the newest medical specialties in the world, having less than 100 years since its definition as a stand-alone surgical specialty by Harvey Cushing (1869–1939). Its emergence required several special prerequisites, which were met only in the mid-19 th century: knowledge of neuroanatomy, function of nervous centers and main cortical area topography, standard asepsis–antisepsis rules, neuroimaging, safe and longer general anesthesia, hemostasis and coagulation techniques and of course knowledgeable, skillful and bold surgeons. The emergence of neurosurgery in Romania has a profound bivalent origin: French and American. The first Romanian neurosurgical center was founded by Alexandru Moruzzi, in 1933, in Iaşi. He was a direct student of the first French neurosurgeon Thierry de Martel, in Paris. The other neurosurgical center in Romania was founded by Dumitru Bagdasar, in 1935, in Bucharest. He studied directly under the first neurosurgeon in the world: Harvey Cushing (Boston, USA). Considering their success and international recognition against tremendous odds, the founding fathers of Romanian neurosurgery represent an example of intelligence, skill, courage and dedication for all future neurosurgeons. Keywords: history of medicine, neurosurgery, Romania.  Neurosurgery – early steps Neurosurgery became a stand-alone specialty at the beginning of the last century thanks to the golden age of medical pioneering, advances and discoveries of the 19 th century. Newer, longer and bolder surgical procedures could be imagined and performed thanks to Joseph Lister’s (1827–1912) definition of sepsis–antisepsis principles, Louis Pasteur’s (1822–1895) progress in microbiology, Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), Paul Broca (1824–1880) and Sir David Ferrier’s (1843–1928) advancements in the knowledge of nervous centers functions and main cortical area topography. Crucial for the development of neurosurgery and surgery in general were the great advances in anesthesia techniques [1]. This historical context proved to be the perfect cradle in which neurosurgery could form, develop and flourish and in time, this era’s defining attributes became this exact specialty’s spirit: bold, cutting-edge, complex. Equally important for neurosurgery were the advances in technology and neurosciences, which allowed the emergence of a new type of paraclinical investigation: medical imaging. Some of the pioneers in neuroimaging were Walter Dandy (1886–1946) – first pneumoencephalo- graphy and ventriculography in 1919, Jean-Athanase Sicard (1872–1929) and Jacques Forestier (1890–1978) – first myelography with lipiodol in 1921, and Egas Moniz (1874–1955) – first cerebral angiography in 1927 [1]. Hemostasis saw significant advancements in the 19 th century. Initially, neurosurgeons used moss – Sir Victor Horsley (1857–1916), in 1914. Later, Harvey Cushing (1869–1939) invented the metallic clips in 1911 and Walter Dandy used them for cerebral aneurysm clipping in 1937. The last advancement that is still in use today is represented by electrocoagulation, which was invented in 1926 by Harvey Cushing and William T. Bovie (1882–1958). Although surgery on the nervous system was performed before, Harvey Cushing (Figure 1) was the one responsible for the individualization of neurosurgery, related significant technological advances and bold, new approaches in various R J M E Romanian Journal of Morphology & Embryology http://www.rjme.ro/