Profile of the research activity returned to the Brazilian Congress of Thoracic Surgery--Chest 2009.

Objective: To increase the knowledge of research activity in Thoracic Surgery in Brazil.

Methods: We carried out a prospective observational study of the abstracts published in the Annals of the Brazilian Congress of Thoracic Surgery - Thorax 2009, to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the geographic distribution and type of home institutions of abstracts, the types of studies and themes addressed.

Results: We published 182 abstracts, 174 (95.60%) of interventionist nature. There were three foreign abstracts, all from a single Italian institution. As for the types of studies, we observed 108 trials, 67 case reports and seven experimental studies. Pulmonary resection (14.29%) was the most frequent theme, followed by lung cancer, hyperhidrosis and tracheal disorders (10.44%), trauma (7.14%) and mediastinum (6.04%). Public institutions participated with 68.16% of the abstracts, private institutions with 11.17% and the philanthropic entities with 20.67%; the Pontifical Catholic Universities (11.00%) and the Santas Casas--Holy Homes (7.70 %)--had a significant involvement in Thoracic Surgery research in Brazil.

Conclusion: Public institutions are mainly responsible for research activity in Thoracic Surgery in Brazil, which is more concentrated in the state of São Paulo (34.07%). One third of this activity is represented by case reports and, although there is wide variation in topics covered, pulmonary resection is the most frequent theme.