Raquel Franco Leal, professor of the Department of Surgery of the School of Medical Sciences of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), visited Vietnam from September 27 to October 2, 2019. The UNICAMP proctologist participated as a roundtable moderator and lecturer in the IMIN (International Microbiome IBD Network) 2019 - Bridging Basic and Clinical Science for Gut Health.

The invitation to participate in the event came from British researchers of the University of Essex and from gastroenterologists of the endoscopy center of the University Hospital of Hanoi (Vietnam). The themes discussed by Raquel in her lectures concerned the role of mesenterial adipose tissue in Crohn’s Disease and practical aspects of translational research.

Vietnam is a country with an emerging economy and, according to Professor Dao Viet Hang of the Department of Internal Medicine of Hanoi Medical University (HMU), there has been a significant rise in the number of patients with inflammatory bowel disease in recent years. One of the main differential diagnoses is intestinal tuberculosis, which is very common in Vietnam.

The meeting was also attended by lecturers from England, Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, and brought together specialists in the area of inflammatory bowel diseases and microbiome. The aim is the development of research projects on epigenetics and better methods for differential diagnosis, in addition to the nation-wide dissemination of these themes.

“In spite of their differences as countries, the increase of these immune-mediated diseases in Brazil and Vietnam is noteworthy. In this context, clinical and scientific expertise can be shared for the development of collaborative research projects,” said Raquel, who had the opportunity to visit public and private hospital installations, such as the Central Military Hospital of Hanoi and the Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of Vietnam.