Nicholas Hajdu

Nicholas Hajdu was born in Ogyalla, a region of north-western Hungary which later became part of Czechoslovakia. Hajdu graduated in medicine in Prague in 1934 and worked in the first clinic for medical diseases there until 1939. In was hare that he first became interested in radiology, since he had the task of screening schizophrenics who were checked for tuberculosis before treatment with hypoglycaemic shock. It was here that he first became interested in radiology, since he had the task of screening schizophrenics who were checked for tuberculosis before treatment with hypoglycaemic shock.

He was unsupervised and he recalls the eerie sensation of being surrounded by a dozen of such patients in a room filled with unguarded high tension cables which when the pilot light failed would be plunged into complete darkness.

He migrated to England and requalified in medicine there and spent a year in general practice before enrolling in the British government scheme to train radiologists for the armed forces. This took place at the St. George's Hospital where he was appointed as an assistant radiologist in 1947. In 1949 he became consultant radiologist at St. George's Hospital and Victoria Hospital for Children, London. He remained at St. George's for 25 years.

In 1964 he was granted recognition as teacher of radiology in the Faculty of Medicine, University of London and continued in this capacity for several years after retirement in 1973. He also remained active in private radiological practice.

Hajdu is a founder member of the European Society of Pediatric Radiology. He has written numerous articles on paediatric radiology, including the account of the disorder which now bears his name.

• N Hajdu:
  Treatment of Asthma in Childhood.
  British Medical Journal, April 24, 1943, 1 (4294): 520.
• R. Lightwood, M. Bodian, J. Suthcliffe, G. H. Macnab, N. Hajdu:
  Discussion: eosinophilic granuloma; Letterer-Siwe disease; Hand-Schüller-Christian disease. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, London, September 1955, 48 (9): 711-720.
• N. Hajdu:
  The acute abdomen. III. Plain radiography of the abdomen in paediatric practice.
  The British Journal of Radiology, London, November 1955, 28 (335): 590-604. .
• N. Hajdu, M. A. Harris, G. S. Ramsay:
  Closed loop obstruction of the afferent limb; a late complication of antecolic partial gastrectomy.
  The British Journal of Radiology, London, August 1956, 29 (344): 418-422.
• N. Hajdu:
  Some rare conditions in childhood involving the pancreas and duodenum.
  Annales de radiologie, Paris, 1967, 10 (9):675-686.
• N. Hajdu, I. Hyde, V. Riddell:
  Antro-pyloric hypertrophy in patients with longstanding gastro-enterostomies a study of thirteen cases.
  The British Journal of Radiology, London, January 1968, 41 (481): 49-54.
• N. Hajdu:
  The role of translateral films in the barium meal.
  Clinical Radiology, January 1968, 19 (1): 33-46.
• N. Hajdu:
  Mesenteric adenitis in childhood simulating intussusception.
  Acta radiologica. Diagnosis, Stockholm, March 1970, 10 (2): 130-137.
• N. Hajdu, G. de Lacey:
  The Rutherford Morison pouch; a characteristic appearance on abdominal radiographs.
  The British Journal of Radiology, London, October 1970, 43 (514): 706-709.
• D. J. Wilkinson, K. W. Wilkinson, N. Hajdu:
  Intestinal duplication. A report of two cases.
  The British Journal of Radiology, London, December 1973, 46 (552): 1070-1072.
• Frederic Noah Silverman (1914-20069. J. P. Dorst, N. Hajdu:
  Acroosteolysis (Hajdu-Cheney syndrome).
  Birth Defects Original Article Series, 1974, 10 (12): 106-123. Biographical:
• Barry G. Firkin and Judith A. Whitworth:
  Dictionary of Medical Eponyms.
  The Parthenon Publishing Group. 1989. New edition in 2002.
• Peter Beighton & Gretha Beighton:
  The Man Behind the Syndrome. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1986.