Summit Belo Horizonte 2026: two days of digestive diagnostics with Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia

On October 9 and 10, Belo Horizonte hosted the second edition of Summit Belo Horizonte, an international gastroenterology meeting organized by NU.V.E.M in partnership with Adium. Over two days, professionals from Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia came together around a shared question: how to make digestive diagnostics reach further, with greater precision.

Four themes, two days

The program was built on four themes: exchange of experience among the participating countries, scientific updates, regional integration and application in clinical practice. The split between the two days followed that logic. The first was devoted to methods, with hands-on workshops. The second, to updates and case discussion.

Day one: the method in your hands

Friday opened with breath testing, combining supervised practice and clinical interpretation. This is the kind of content you cannot learn by listening alone: reading a hydrogen and methane curve takes repetition and discussion of real cases, and that is how the session was run.

Next came high-resolution esophageal manometry and pH monitoring, focused on interpretation and on the findings that change management. H. pylori investigation had a hands-on workshop and a discussion of diagnosis.

Reflux disease was addressed in light of the Lyon Consensus 2.0, which reorganized the diagnostic criteria and the way findings are classified. Constipation was approached through methods, with anorectal manometry and colonic transit studies.

The day also included a pelvic floor workshop and a session on oral cavity assessment, with halimetry and sialometry, a topic usually left out of gastroenterology meetings and one directly related to digestive complaints.

Day two: revisiting what we thought we knew

Saturday opened with Rome V. The international criteria for disorders of gut-brain interaction were updated this year, ten years after the previous version, and the session dealt precisely with what changes for clinicians in practice.

Reflux disease returned, this time through definition and pathophysiology. There was a session on laryngeal recalibration techniques, and food intolerances were covered through case discussion, with a nutritional approach to intolerances and dysbiosis.

The program also presented the Brazilian experience with Colokids and closed with an exchange session among the three countries, which turned out to be one of the most productive moments of the meeting.

What the exchange revealed

The three countries arrived with different realities. Equipment availability, access to testing, referral patterns and service organization vary considerably among them. The clinical questions, however, are the same.

That realization is where the meeting showed its worth. A protocol that works well in a fully equipped service needs adaptation in another setting, and that adaptation is knowledge found in no paper. It passes from one clinician to another in conversation.

Who led the sessions

The program featured Dr. Vera Ângelo, Dr. Amanda Araújo, Dr. Cláudia Utsch, Dr. Eliane Basques, Dr. Débora Andrade, Dr. Juliana Moraes, Dr. Raíssa Dalat, Dr. Gabriel Fernandes, physiotherapist Anna Karoline and technicians Larissa Simão and Camila Marques. Scientific coordination was led by Dr. Vera Ângelo.

A meeting like this also depends on the people working behind the scenes. Our thanks to receptionist Nazinha and to technician and manager Elisangela, who helped make the Summit possible.

What remains

A scientific meeting does not end when it is over. What is discussed across two days returns to the office the following week, as revised management, as updated criteria, and as a different way of looking at the same test.

That is the point of a clinic that also teaches. The method sharpened in discussion with colleagues from other countries is the same one that serves the patient who walks in on Monday.

Together, we strengthen gastroenterology in South America.