Zdenek Maratka, a man with a vision

A memorial statement by Massimo Crespi, OMED Past President

It is easy, when mourning a friend, to overemphasize his personality and accomplishments. But in these sad circumstances I dare to say: Zdenek Maratka was a man with a vision who contributed substantially to the establishment of Digestive Endoscopy as a structured discipline instrumental for the understanding of digestive diseases. Maratka knew that it would be necessary for all endoscopists to speak the same endoscopic language and use the same terms to describe what the eye sees. For purposes of clarity of reporting, education, growth, teaching, comparing results and interchange of ideas, all must use the correct words and be aware of their meaning - the subject matter for terminology and semantics. Using correct terminology and proper classification, endoscopic findings can be interpreted to form a clinical diagnosis. Thus terminology is inseparable from definition of each term, classification and diagnostic criteria, both in normal and pathological conditions.

Maratka felt this compelling need for organization in endoscopic reporting in the years preceding the 4th World Congress of Digestive Endoscopy in Madrid, 1978. An ad hoc Committee of the European Society for Digestive Endoscopy (ESGE) was established in 1976 and then transformed into a Committee of OMED for "Terminology. Definitions and Diagnostic Criteria in Digestive Endoscopy" in 1978. From then on several revisions of the Terminology were published thanks to the continuous input by Maratka and a selected number of experienced contributors. All these efforts found a passionate Editor and supporter, Mr. Franz Reuter from Normed Verlag. The rationale of the Terminology lies in the fact that terminology means proper terms, semantics teaches the meaning for the terms. Both are dynamic disciplines, changing with the evolution of methods and of medicine in general. They also depend, to some extent, on personal opinions. There is therefore room for a certain flexibility, since too rigid a terminology might in fact hamper that evolution. On the other hand incorrect, obsolete, ambiguous, unnecessary and superfluous terms must be identified and eliminated and equivalent terms in languages other than English should, if possible, be as compatible and homogeneous as possible.

In the early 1990's, in order to facilitate the incorporation of the original Terminology into computer databases, it was felt by OMED and by the manufacturers of endoscopic instruments, that a reduced number of terms and definitions would be desirable to standardize endoscopic reporting. With the advice by Professor M. Classen an ESGE Committee to define the "minimal standards for a computerized endoscopic database" was implemented. It was chaired by myself, JR Armengol Mirò and M. Delvaux, with input from several European experts and was later enlarged to include representatives of The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the Japanese Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Society (JGES).
A first report "The Minimal Standard Terminology for Databases in Digestive Endoscopy (MST)" was delivered at the World Congress of Gastroenterology in Los Angeles in 1994. Intense testing lead to version 1.0 and then 2.0 of the MST, made possible also by a generous grant from the European Union obtained and managed by Crespi and Delvaux.

That's in brief the history of MST, the outcome of the original vision by Professor Maratka, who acted as precious adviser and master throughout the whole work.

On a personal note: I have to say that Professor Maratka was also a close friend, frequently hosted in Italy for his special relationships with R.Cheli because both shared artistic interests and a common background, being the teachers, founders and passionate supporters of ESGE and OMED.

It is frequently sad, but also encouraging, to remember such powerful personalities for their professional and human character, a good example for the generations to come.