Joffre Rezende Filho

Current epidemiological profile of Chagasic megaesophagus in Central Brazil

INTRODUCTION Chagasic megaesophagus (CM) is the most common digestive manifestation of Chagas disease in Brazil, and the State of Goiás is one of the most affected regions. In recent decades, the Hospital das Clínicas (HC)/Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG) has been a reference center for the study and treatment of CM. The objective of this study was to characterize the current epidemiological profile of patients with CM observed at the HC of the UFG from 1998 to 2010. METHODS In total, 939 patient records were analyzed, and age, gender, place of birth, serology, symptoms and radiological classification according to Rezende et al. were analyzed. RESULTS The median patient age was 55 years. Male patients were more (54%) prevalent than female patients. The prevalence of younger patients (less than 31 years of age) was 4.2%, but 82.1% of the younger patients were from State of Bahia. Patients older than 40 years were the majority (85.5%). The radiological groups were distributed as follows: Group I (35.9%), Group II (32.9%), Group III (17%) and Group IV (14.2%). CONCLUSIONS Compared with previous studies by the same group in 1975, 1994 and 1995, the number of younger patients decreased, and the frequency curve has shifted to older patients.

The departure of a Brazilian master of gastroenterology.

v. 52 no. 2 abr./jun. 2015 Arq Gastroenterol 81 On January 26, 2015 at the age of 93 years and 8 months, one of the major exponents of Brazilian medicine, Prof. Dr. Joffre Marcondes de Rezende, passed away. Gastroenterologist, professor, researcher, writer, humanist, great scholar of medical language and history of medicine, an example for an entire generation of doctors. Everyone that could enjoy his conviviality recognized the living expression of simplicity, sympathy, the professional and scientific seriousness of a rare humanistic culture. Born in 1921, in a small city in the state of Minas Gerais, Piumhi, graduated in medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of National University at Praia Vermelha, Rio de Janeiro, in 1950. Already during graduation revealed his spirit as a researcher, when he described the “Supine hypotension syndrome in pregnancy”. Initially, he practiced medicine in the town of Bela Vista, Mato Grosso, Brazil’s border with Paraguay, for 2 years. He returns to Rio de Janeiro for a specialization in Gastroenterology with Prof. Júlio de Moraes. In 1954, moved to Goiânia, at this time, a young and small capital in Central Brazil. When he arrived in Goiás, he faced the high prevalence of endemic megaesophagus and this fact motivated him to deeply study the disease over the THE DEPARTURE OF A BRAZILIAN MASTER OF GASTROENTEROLOGY