What has changed since your society became an ECCO Country Member?
There is greater participation in ECCO Meetings and more ECCO Members. There has also been an increase in the acknowledgement of IBD in Portugal. The guidance provided by ECCO through the published guidelines has been extremely useful as a tool to standardise clinical care in different centres in Portugal.

What are the benefits to you of being an ECCO Country Member?
More engagement in IBD with the possibility of participating in investigational programmes and in the exchange of information. ECCO has a prominent role in all aspects of IBD (research, publications, networking, guidelines, education/training) and Portugal, as an ECCO Country Member, has access to this important network of knowledge in IBD.

Is your society making use of the ECCO Guidelines?
Yes.

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

• 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.
• Has your country been involved in a fellow exchange through ECCO?
  Yes.

What are your main areas of research interest?
Epidemiological observational studies and therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM).

Does your centre or country have a common IBD database or bio bank?
Yes, we have a national IBD Clinical Database (gediibasedados.med.up.pt).

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

• DIRECT - Study investigating the correlation of faecal calprotectin with serum drug levels and development of anti-drug antibodies among adult patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease who are receiving anti-TNF-alpha or vedoluzimab treatment
• REMREGISTER/SIMREGISTER - Studies investigating the correlation of faecal calprotectin with serum drug levels and development of anti-drug antibodies among adult patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease who are receiving anti-TNF-alpha biosimilars
• P DIRECT- Study to investigate the correlation of faecal calprotectin with serum drug levels and development of anti-drug antibodies among paediatric patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease who are receiving anti-TNF-alpha treatment
• BIOAZA - Impact of azathioprine in inducing and maintaining clinical, biomarker and endoscopic remission among patients with Crohn’s Disease: a 2-year longitudinal analysis from the GEDII Registry
• MICRA - Epidemiological study to determine the prevalence of microscopic Colitis and describe its clinical and histological features among patients with symptoms of chronic watery diarrhoea who are submitted to colonoscopy attending to the Portuguese gastroenterology setting.

Past studies:

• Comparison of different histological indexes in the assessment of UC activity and their accuracy regarding endoscopic outcomes and faecal calprotectin levels. Magro F, et al. Gut. 2018  Feb 3. PubMed PMID: 29437913.
• The timing of early therapeutic strategies has a significant impact on Crohn's Disease prognosis. Dias CC, et al. Dig Liver Dis. 2018;50:462–8. PubMed PMID: 29456097.  
• Disagreement among gastroenterologists using the Mayo and Rutgeerts endoscopic scores. Fernandes SR, et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2018;24:254–60. PubMed PMID: 29361106.  
• Detection of anti-infliximab antibodies is impacted by antibody titer, infliximab level and IgG4 antibodies: a systematic comparison of three different assays. Afonso J, et al. Therap Adv Gastroenterol. 2016;9:781–94. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5076767.  
• Development and validation of risk matrices for Crohn's Disease outcomes in patients who underwent early therapeutic interventions. Dias CC, et al. J Crohns Colitis. 2017;11:445–53. PubMed PMID: 27683799.  
• Accuracy of faecal calprotectin and neutrophil gelatinase B-associated lipocalin in evaluating subclinical inflammation in UlceRaTIVE Colitis – the ACERTIVE study. Magro F, et al. J Crohns Colitis. 2017;11:435–44. PubMed PMID: 27664275.  
• Proactive therapeutic drug monitoring of infliximab: a comparative study of a new point-of-care quantitative test with two established ELISA assays. Afonso J, et al. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2016;44:684–92. PubMed PMID: 27507790.  
• Anaemia in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease – A nationwide cross-sectional study. Portela F, et al. Digestion. 2016;93:214–20. PubMed PMID: 27022722.  
• Assessing overall patient satisfaction in Inflammatory Bowel Disease using structural equation modeling. Soares JB, et al. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2015;27:941–50. PubMed PMID: 25966672.  
• Ulcerative Colitis in a Southern European country: a national perspective. Portela F, et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2010;16:822–9. PubMed PMID: 19824069.  
• Crohn's Disease in a southern European country: Montreal classification and clinical activity. Magro F, et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2009;15:1343–50. PubMed PMID: 19235885. 

Which ECCO Projects/Activities is the group in? 

• I CARE Study - Ibd CAncer and seRious infections in Europe
• Some GEDII members have been involved in the development of ECCO Statements, Consensus and Guidelines. 

What are your aims for the future? 
We aim to spread national studies through ECCO Scientific Platforms, to collaborate with ECCO in international studies and to improve the knowledge in IBD through participation in meetings and fellow exchanges.  

How do you see ECCO helping you to fulfil these aims?
ECCO has an important role in the announcement of Portuguese studies in the European ECCO Scientific Platform.

What do you use ECCO for? Network? Congress? How do you use the things/services that ECCO has to offer?
Mainly for networking and ECCO Congresses and Workshops

ECCO National Representatives from Portugal © Ana Isabel Vieira and Isadora Rosa