Brazil - forging links and making collaboration count in the battle against CVD

The Letter from Rio and EuroPRevent

The Brazil Prevent Congress (November 2012) was a major event last year and produced the “Letter from Rio” – a co-signed document outlining important steps to prevent the ongoing spread of CVD. ESC speakers participated in the congress and were cosignatories of the letter, together with the BSC/SBC, American Heart Association, SIAC and World Heart Federation.

“We made history that afternoon”

said BSC/SBC president Dr Jadelson Andrade, FESC. He added that it was the first time a national cardiology society had united the major international cardiology societies to discuss primary cardiovascular prevention:

“We were very grateful for the positive inputs and the worldwide resonance of that.”

The ESC is set to participate in Brazil Prevent 2013.

“We move from Rio to Salvador, a darling city from Brazil, the first capital of the country, also by the sea,”

said Dr Andrade. He added:

“The ESC will receive the mission to build up two joint sessions, able to share with Brazilians all its knowledge accumulated in its rich history.”

The Letter from Rio travelled to Rome in April, where it was presented by Gláucia Moraes at the Global Forum for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice during EuroPRevent. The Forum was created by the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR) to unite the voices of regional and national professional societies for cardiovascular prevention.
Dr Andrade said:

“It was an absolute and flattering honour receiving this dedicated space at EuroPRevent 2013.”

The BSC/SBC and EACPR are exchanging information to develop prevention solutions. Registries are one way they will build up a picture of clinical practice. Dr Andrade said:

“Joining forces together using the electronic way of globalization is thrilling. Let’s see the revelations that will come from this data.”

Making connections

The BSC/SBC is forging great connections with the ESC and its Associations, with significant and increasing participation from Brazilians in ESC activities across the board. Attendance of Brazilian residents at ESC Congress has exploded in recent years and it is now one of the top ten countries for participants. Two joint BSC/SBC/ESC sessions will be held at ESC Congress 2013: “Myocardial revascularisation in clinical practice” and “Infectious myocardial and pericardial disease”.

Connections on arrhythmias are strong between Brazil and the ESC. The Brazilian Working Group on Arrhythmia, Sociedade Brasileira de Arritmias Cardiacas (SOBRAC), has firm links with the ESC association for arrhythmia, European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). EHRA shares a joint stand at the SOBRAC annual meeting and Brazil is in the top 5 countries for membership to EHRA. Active connections also exist in heart failure. The ESC’s Heart Failure Association hold three joint sessions with the BSC/SBC in Lisbon during the Heart Failure Congress 25 – 28 May.

Trail-blazing with ESC online education

Brazil was the first Affiliated Cardiac Society of the ESC to sign up to the ESC eLearning tool for intervention when it was launched in February by the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI).

Dr Andrade said there were numerous reasons behind the increasing participation of Brazilian cardiologists in ESC activities:

“First, by our European heritage, since our colonization by the Portuguese, added by a multiple flow of European immigration on the past centuries. Second the European pattern of clinical practice, pretty much similar to ours. Third, the constant growing of quality of the ESC meetings that promote progressive interest in Brazilian cardiology physicians, exploring with vertical quality all the major cardiology fields.”

Business in Brazil

The BSC/SBC’s annual congress will be held 28 September to 1 October 2013 in Rio de Janeiro. It is by far the largest cardiology meeting in Latin America, gathering up to 8,000 physicians. ESC participation is growing, and the “ESC day” will have four 90 minute sessions: two dedicated to the latest ESC Guidelines, one on late breaking trials from ESC Congress 2013, and a joint session on the latest evidence in multivessel coronary heart disease revascularization strategies. Dr Andrade said:

“We expect that the Brazilian audience will enhance their knowledge with these sessions.”

Part of the research

Brazil is set to participate in the ESC registry on Pregnancy and Cardiac Disease. Dr Andrade said:

“The possibility of interchanging our clinical experience by the use of ESC registry platforms is awesome. Joining efforts may be useful to find the existence or not of gradients of diagnostic and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.”

The BSC/SBC began its own registries project in 2010. Five registries unite more than 150 different hospitals in Brazil, from the south of the border to the Amazon rainforest, including nearly 10,000 patients and covering the major cardiovascular syndromes: acute coronary syndromes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, heart failure and atrial fibrillation.