What has changed since your society became an ECCO Country Member?

Becoming an ECCO Country Member allowed our society members to establish partnerships with colleagues from other countries and to participate in international projects. It also permitted us to offer our trainees and our health care community (doctors, nurses and nutritionists) the chance to participate in learning activities organised by ECCO.

What are the benefits to you of being an ECCO Country Member?

We participate in international projects and meetings and collaborate in educational activities organised by ECCO. As an ECCO Country Member, Portugal has access to the knowledge and the network of ECCO with regard to all aspects of IBD (including investigations, publications and guidelines).

Is your society making use of the ECCO Guidelines?

Yes, we recommend that the ECCO Guidelines are followed. They have had a very important role in standardising care in IBD in different centres across Portugal.

Have you developed links with other countries through your ECCO Country Membership?  See below.

• Have you developed research projects with other countries through your ECCO Country Membership?
  Yes 

• Have you developed educational activities with other countries through your ECCO Country Membership?
  Yes – we participate in the Four Nations IBD Course for Trainees.

• Has your country been involved in a fellow exchange through ECCO?
  Not through ECCO, but several of our trainees have been doing fellowships in other European countries with colleagues we met through ECCO.

What are your main areas of research interest?

Our group has projects in the fields of epidemiology, IBD biomarkers, immunogenicity of biologics and biosimilars, IBD pathology and the microbiome.    

Does your centre or country have a common IBD database or bio bank?

Yes, we do have a National IBD Clinical Database (gediibasedados.med.up.pt).

What are your most prestigious/interesting past and ongoing projects?

Recently finished projects for which results have already been published are: PHDI – Hypermethylation patterns in IBD-associated dysplasia; ACERTIVE – Accuracy of calprotectin in evaluating sub-clinical inflammation in Ulcerative Colitis; CISAE – Correlation between IFX serum levels and anti-TNF antibody therapy (ATIs) in different pharmacokinetics times and endoscopic healing; EASY – Early surgery or immunosuppression; HERICA – Histological and endoscopic evaluation of remission induced by infliximab in moderately to severely active Ulcerative Colitis patients; CAPOR – Anaemia in IBD.

Ongoing projects: BIOAZA – Impact of AZAthioprine in inducing and maintaining clinical, BIOmarkers and endoscopic remission among patients with Crohn's Disease: A 2-year longitudinal analysis from the GEDII registry; REMREGISTER – A study in the real-world practice to evaluate the impact of biosimilar infliximab (Remsima) on clinical outcomes in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: a 2-year longitudinal analysis from the GEDII Registry; SIMREGISTER – A study in real-world practice to evaluate the impact of biosimilar infliximab (Inflectra) on clinical outcomes in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: a 2-year longitudinal analysis from the GEDII Registry; DIRECT – A study in real-world practice to evaluate the impact of infliximab original on clinical outcomes in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: a 2-year longitudinal analysis from the GEDII Registry; MICRA - An epidemiological study to determine the prevalence of MICroscopic colitis and describe its clinical and histological features among patients with symptoms of chRonic watery diarrhea submitted to colonoscopy Attending to the Portuguese gastroenterology setting.

Which ECCO Projects/Activities is the group currently involved in?

Some GEDII members have been involved in the development of ECCO Consensus Statements.

What are your aims for the future?

To keep promoting research and learning activities in IBD and maintain high-quality care of our IBD patients.

How do you see ECCO helping you to fulfil these aims?

ECCO will facilitate our participation in multinational projects and activities and play an important role in disseminating our projects.

What do you use ECCO for? Network? Congress? How do you use the things/services that ECCO has to offer?

Networking activities at ECCO Meetings are essential to establish partnerships. We also use the ECCO Congress and ECCO Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis (JCC) to present the results of our projects and we collaborate with the e-CCO Learning Activities in our country whenever possible.