SPED Activities: Research Activities Promoted Under the Auspices of SPED

 

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Sociedade Portuguesa de Endoscopia Digestiva since its foundation aims at promoting and stimulating research in the field of gastrointestinal endoscopy. In fact this is reflected in its statutes and consecutively all Directive Boards during the years included in their specific purposes the promotion of research projects both by the implementation of specific projects or by financing through grants SPED associates' research interests. Moreover, the dissemination of the results of research projects of Portuguese researches; and the development of teaching activities in the field of scientific methodology and communication were achieved.

Every year, the call for SPED's research grants merits the full attention of Portuguese Gastroenterology units. Over the years, through a peer-review process open to all members, 75 000 euros gave the opportunity to implement several different study areas from ergonomy of endoscopic units and complications after endoscopic procedures; to the new diagnostic technologies (chromoendoscopy, magnification or narrow-band imaging) and Natural Orifices Trans-Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES). Furthermore, projects come from all over the country and both universitary and non-universitary hospitals. These activities, and their results, have been also shown using all Editorial projects of SPED as a way to motivate and promote Portuguese investigators: at Endonews, distributed for 10.000 medical doctors, endoscopists, general practitioners and others, a “Research Corner” (in 2005); and references to publications of Portuguese authors at indexed medical journals (in 2008) were created; more recently, all abstracts of prizes for best presentations at Portuguese National Meeting (2008) were published at SPED's Newsletter in Endoscopy.

Also, two other projects were conducted and/or started. An inquiry to the practice of endoscopy in Portugal was conducted between 2005 and 2007. And a pilot study aiming at assessing the efficacy of left-colonoscopy for colon cancer screening was implemented.

Since 2003, SPED has collaborated with ESGE Research Committee by promoting among Portuguese endoscopy centers currently on-going studies.

Title and Principal Investigator of SPED's Research Grants from 1999 – 2008. Year Title Principal Investigator 1999 Chromoendoscopy for early diagnosis of esophageal malignancies Pedro AmaroHospitais de Universidade de Coimbra 2000 Postural stress for endoscopists João FreitasHospital Garcia da Orta, Almada 2001 Accuracy of magnification endoscopy for the diagnosis of associated lesions to gastric adenocarcinoma Mário Dinis RibeiroPortuguese Oncology Institute of Porto and Porto Faculty of Medicine 2002 Information Technologies and Diagnosis of Associated lesions to gastric cancer: Current practice and learning curve of magnification chromoendoscopy Mário Dinis RibeiroPortuguese Oncology Institute of Porto and Porto Faculty of Medicine 2004 Prospective study for assessment of 30-days' complication after upper GI endoscopy and colonoscopy Isabelle CremersCentro Hospitalar de Setúbal 2005 Development of Endoscopic Techniques for Transvisceral Abdominal Surgery Carla RolandaHospital de São MarcosInstituto de CiÁncias da Vida e da Saúde 2006 Narrow Band Imaging and dysplasia diagnosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease Pedro Reis PereiraHospital de São Marcos 2007 Phisyology and Immune Stress in NOTES: Pré-clinical evaluation Carla RolandaHospital de São MarcosInstituto de Ciências da Vida e da Saúde 2008 Narrow Band Imaging and gastric precancerous lesions Pedro Pimentel-NunesPortuguese Oncology Institute of Porto

MÄrio Dinis-Ribeiro
JosÅ Manuel Romaozinho