The Portuguese Society of Cardiology (PSC) was founded on 9 July 1949 by a group of cardiologists, with links to university institutions, who wanted to set up a scientific society that would act as a base for the development of Portuguese cardiology. The PSC is dedicated to the study of cardiovascular disease in order to improve the health and quality of life of the Portuguese population and has also a commitment to education and training of their members.
Between 1954 and 1958, the first three volumes of the Bulletin were published, four annual scientific sessions were held and the first three Luso-Spanish congresses took place. By 1959, the number of members had risen to one hundred.
The 1960s saw the continued growth of the Society’s membership and the expansion of its international contacts led to the American College of Cardiology bringing the 1st International Circuit Course to Portugal.
In 1966, the Bulletin of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology, which had been interrupted in 1958, began again on a regular basis with the publication of Volume IV.
In 1974, the 1st Portuguese Congress of Cardiology was held in Estoril, Lisbon. The congress alternated every four years with a Luso-Spanish congress, but the Portuguese Congress has been held annually since 1991. In recent years the number of delegates attending the congress varies between 2,000 and 2,500. Presentations are made in Portuguese but the slides are in English for the benefit of foreign doctors present at the congress.
Every year there are 4 international symposia: the Update international Symposium, the joint Symposium European Society of Cardiology/Portuguese Society of Cardiology, the Portuguese/Spanish Symposium (all in English) and the Portuguese/Brazilian Symposium (in Portuguese).
The Portuguese Society also exchange views on scientific maters with other Societies, v.g. the French, Italian, Hellenic, Chez and others, through active participation in their scientific programme and also during their presence in the PSC Congress.
1979 saw the beginning of the study groups and later the Portuguese Cardiac Pacing Association and the Portuguese Cardiology Foundation.
The society’s expansion at the end of the seventies enabled it to realise its long-standing dream – its own premises, which it acquired in 1981.
The Bulletin, which was published uninterruptedly from 1966, was replaced in 1982 by the Portuguese Journal of Cardiology – which has been published regularly since then and is today a bi-lingual publication (Portuguese and English).
At the beginning of the eighties, international contacts expanded multi-fold, with the Luso-Brazilian Cardiology Symposiums being held on a biannual basis and the 1st Luso-French Cardiology Conference taking place in Lisbon in 1984. It was also a decade that saw a rise in ongoing medical training courses under the auspices of the study groups.
During the nineties, the expansion of its activities and the support of the pharmaceutical and equipment industry made it possible to acquire new premises: Casa do Coração – the Heart House. Inaugurated in 1996, it has adequate administrative facilities, a library, a museum and its own auditorium.
The training courses began to be held regularly, accompanied by wide-ranging publishing initiatives, with the Update Cardiology Course publishing ten volumes in prints of as high as 8,000 copies. During these years, the number of scholarships and science awards increased significantly.
In 1999, the Society celebrated its 50th anniversary and it was during this year that the northern branch of the PSC was opened in Oporto.
In 2001, the Coimbra Centre was opened.
In 2002, the CNCDC - Centro Nacional de Colecção de Dados em Cardiologia, (National Centre for the Collection of Data in Cardiology) also based in Coimbra, was founded.
In 2005, the Portuguese Society of Cardiology was a signatory to the Luxembourg Declaration signed by the European Society of Cardiology, national cardiology societies and the health ministries of European Union countries. The aim is to implement a concerted strategy for cardiovascular prevention.
In 2006, the Project Coordinating Centre was set up – it houses the projects of Investigation and Intervention in the Community, fostered or supported by the Portuguese Society of Cardiology. 2006 was also the first year of publication of the Risk Factors Review, which is part of the PSC strategy of promoting medical training in the area of cardiovascular risk.
In July 2007, the European Heart Health Charter was submitted to the European Parliament and its recommendations were approved in December by the European Council of Ministers during the Portuguese presidency.
The Portuguese Society of Cardiology is charged with acting at a scientific-pedagogical, political and social level to foster the dissemination of the Charter’s principles and to contribute to their practical implementation, a task which it believes to be a determining factor for the improved health of the Portuguese people. Our aim is to help bring about the success of the Saint Valentine’s Day statement “Every child born in the new millennium has the right to live until the age of at least 65 years without suffering from avoidable cardiovascular disease”.
The Charter was publicised by means of various initiatives, disseminated by the media, distributed to the country’s cardiologists, internists and general practitioners, sent to the Health Centres, officially presented to the Parliamentary Health Committee and sent to all the members of parliament.
Since April 2008, the 1,300 members of the PSC receive, every month, the e-letter, which they also can read in the website. In the website, the members can find a large amount of information concerning the ongoing activities and have access to the pages of PSC´s Study Groups and Associations, as well as to the Portuguese Journal of Cardiology, present both in Portuguese and English.
In 2008/2009, the Society held an “Advanced Cardiology Training Cycle” aimed at young doctors undergoing cardiology training. This Cycle took place over ten weekend meetings and involved more than one hundred member lecturers. The summaries have been published in book form.
In 2009, the Society took the initiative of having the last nine “Pocket Guidelines” of the European Society of Cardiology translated into Portuguese and distributed to its members, internists and general practitioners in the National Health Service.
In 2009, the Portuguese Society of Cardiology organised the “1st Lusophone Cardiology Conference”, aimed at strengthening the scientific, cultural and human ties between cardiologists from Portuguese-speaking countries and communities. This conference, which was scientific and pedagogical in nature, was held in Cabo Verde and attended by cardiologists from across the Portuguese-speaking world.
In the wake of this encounter, the Portuguese and Brazilian Cardiology Societies decided to set up the Federation of Portuguese-Speaking Cardiology Societies, a project that is currently underway.