Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 16, 2017; 5(1): 24-26
Published online Jan 16, 2017. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v5.i1.24
Conscience imperative of providing information and knowledge in hepatology: The Portuguese approach
Guilherme Macedo, Marco Silva
Guilherme Macedo, Marco Silva, Department of Gastroenterology, the Centro Hospitalar São João, WGO Training Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
Author contributions: Macedo G drafted and final approval of the manuscript; Silva M drafted of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Guilherme Macedo, MD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, the Centro Hospitalar São João, WGO Training Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal. guilhermemacedo59@gmail.com
Telephone: +351-22-5512100 Fax: +351-22-5025766
Received: June 20, 2016
Peer-review started: June 20, 2016
First decision: August 11, 2016
Revised: September 21, 2016
Accepted: October 25, 2016
Article in press: October 27, 2016
Published online: January 16, 2017
Processing time: 203 Days and 4.6 Hours
Abstract

The last 25 years have been a thrilling time for the Portuguese hepatologists. Our national meetings have been providing the forum for the exchange of scientific ideas and the presentation of clinical research in clinical Hepatology, a growing world of knowledge in medical care. Bridging the gaps between technology and clinical daily practice, the latest development and the almost humble bedside care, has been a challenge for the increasing numbers of doctors devoted to the diagnostic and treatment of liver disease. We have been trying to be very persuasive among the Portuguese medical community in demonstrating that cultural vectors may influence the origin and pattern of liver disease among us. Viral hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease are paradigms of this assumption. Chronic liver disease is responsible for 3% of the deaths in Portugal, which accounts for the top ten causes of death in our country. The recognition by public health authorities of this fact along with the national net of hepatology outpatient consultation in public hospitals, has brought liver diseases under the lights of doctors concerns and an increased public awareness of its dimension.

Keywords: Alcohol, Cirrhosis, Hepatology, Liver, Public health

Core tip: The last 25 years have been a thrilling time for the Portuguese Hepatologists. Nowadays our main efforts are devoted both at the level of training and pregraduate teaching, especially in the large university hospitals but also in addressing the public directly, aiming essentially in giving information on three major topics: Alcohol, viral hepatitis and the obesity epidemics.