Lithuania

Name of group: IBD Group of Lithuanian Society of Gastroenterology

Number of active members: 28

Number of meetings per year: 4–5

President and Secretary:

Gediminas Kiudelis: President

Juozas Kupčinskas: Secretary General

National Representatives: 

Limas Kupčinskas

Gediminas Kiudelis

Joined ECCO in:

The IBD Group of Lithuanian Society of Gastroenterology joined ECCO in 2002.

Incidence of IBD in the country: 11.6/100,000

Czech Republic

Name of group: The Czech IBD Working Group

Number of active members: The Czech IBD Working Group has no official membership, but there are approximately 30 active participants who attend the meetings and participate in group activities.

Number of meetings per year: The group organises three or four meetings per year.

President and Secretary: There is no official president and secretary, but the coordinator of the group is Martin Bortlik.

National Representatives:  Pavel Drastich and Dana Duricova

Joined ECCO in:

The Czech IBD Working Group became a member of ECCO in 2002.

Incidence of IBD in the country: According to an international epidemiological study – the ECCO-EpiCom study – the incidence of IBD in 2010 was 12.7/100,000 inhabitants (5.6 for CD and 5.8 for UC).

Switzerland

Emanuel Burri  © Emanuel Burri

Michel Maillard © Michel Maillard

Name of group: IBDnet (www.ibdnet.ch)

The IBDnet is a Swiss interest group of medical doctors and scientists specialising in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. The aim is the promotion of research and communication on aetiology, diagnosis and therapy in order to improve patient outcomes.

Number of active members: 137

Switzerland has roughly 475 gastroenterologists and hepatologists, 350 of whom are located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland and 125 in the French- and Italian-speaking part.

The IBDnet has 122 members, with a steering committee of 15 IBD specialists.

Number of meetings per year: 

• Steering committee meetings: four per year; one General Assembly per year.
• Education:
  • Educational meetings with credits for HCPs: One or two major (2- or 3-day meetings, postgraduate course) and 10–12 minor (half-day meetings or webinars)
  • Educational meetings for IBD Nurses: Two 1-day meetings
• Expert meetings: The IBDnet holds one or two expert meetings per year to develop Swiss expert opinions for peer-reviewed publication.
• Patient Relations: The IBDnet broadly supports and organises four to six patient events or webinars per year in collaboration with the patient association CCS (Crohn Colitis Switzerland). Most speakers at these patient information events are IBDnet steering committee members. Furthermore, in collaboration with the patient association, IBDnet develops and releases patient information guidebooks.

Meetings in 2020: 17 accredited educational activities (11 webinars for HCPs, three webinars for patients, two 1-day nurse workshops, one 3-day postgraduate course)

President and Secretary: President: Stephan Vavricka, Zurich, Secretary: Nadine Zahnd-Straumann, Zurich

National Representatives: Emanuel Burri, Liestal and Michel H. Maillard, Lausanne

Joined ECCO in: Switzerland was among the founding members of ECCO.

Incidence of IBD in the country: No exact number available. IBD incidence is estimated to be 2 per 1000 persons per year.

At the 15th Congress of ECCO in Vienna, the Young ECCO Committee (Y-ECCO) and the Clinical Research Committee of ECCO (ClinCom) jointly conducted a survey of attendees entitled “Decision-making in IBD dysplasia management”. The results are currently being prepared for publication. This project followed on from other successful surveys which led to submission of abstracts at the ECCO Congress and publication of full manuscripts in scientific journals.

Charlotte Hedin © ECCO

Britta Siegmund is Medical Director of the Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and holds many other important national and international roles within the scientific and medical communities. She has an extensive publication record in the mucosal immunology of IBD. She is also President-Elect of ECCO.

Laparoscopic ileocaecal resection versus infliximab for terminal ileitis in Crohn’s disease: retrospective long-term follow-up of the LIR!C trial  

Stevens TW, Haasnoot ML, D’Haens GR, Buskens CJ, De Groof EJ, Eshuis EJ, Gardenbroek TJ, Mol B, Stokkers PCF, Bemelman WA, Ponsioen CY on behalf of the LIR!C study group

Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol 2020 Jun 30;S2468-1253(20)30117-5. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(20)30117-5. Online ahead of print.

Radha Gadhok © Radha Gadhok

Introduction

The positioning of medical therapies in the management of Crohn’s Disease (CD) continues to be debated [1] whilst surgery is reserved for cases with disease complications or failure of medical therapy.  The LIR!C trial [2] provided evidence for  surgical resection as an alternative to infliximab (IFX) in the management of localised terminal ileitis, a common presentation of CD [3].

Briefly, the LIR!C trial reported quality of life scores (IBDQ) among 143 adult patients with terminal ileitis (<40 cm) who underwent randomisation to IFX induction/maintenance or ileocaecal resection. Patients were recruited from 29 secondary and tertiary Dutch and British centres. Exclusion criteria included non-inflammatory disease, prestenotic dilatation, abscess and previous surgery. Inclusion criteria included failing at least three months of conventional therapy [immunomodulator (IM) and/or corticosteroid (CS)] [2]

No benefit of continuing vs stopping 5-aminosalicylates in patients with ulcerative colitis escalated to anti-metabolite therapy

Singh S, Kim J, Zhu W, Dulai P, Sandborn WJ, Jairath V

Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2020;52:481–91.

Rebecca Reynolds © Rebecca Reynolds

Introduction

First introduced by Svartz in 1942, 5-aminosalicylates (5-ASAs) are a well-established and effective first-line therapy for the induction and maintenance of remission in patients with mild-to-moderate Ulcerative Colitis (UC). They remain the most frequently prescribed medication for UC and are known to be effective and well tolerated [1]. Between 87% and 98% of UC patients receive 5-ASA treatment within the first year of diagnosis and 60%–87% continue on this treatment at ten years [2, 3].

Escalation to anti-metabolites (thiopurines or methotrexate) and/or biologic or small molecule therapy is often required for UC patients with a more aggressive disease course. Whilst it is now accepted that discontinuing 5-ASA therapy when escalating to a biologic is not associated with adverse outcomes, less is known about the therapeutic benefit of continuation of 5-ASAs with an antimetabolite [2, 4].

Singh et al conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the pattern of 5-ASA use in patients with UC following escalation to an antimetabolite. The study evaluated patients escalated to antimetabolite therapy (stopping 5-ASA vs short-term 5-ASA use for <6 months vs persistent 5-ASA use for >6 months) and compared the risk of clinically important complications based on the pattern of 5-ASA use in these patients. They hypothesised that continuing 5-ASA therapy would not be more beneficial than stopping it.

Prominence of ileal mucosa-associated microbiota to predict postoperative endoscopic recurrence in Crohn’s disease

Sokol H, Brot L, Stefanescu C, et al.

Gut 2020;69:462–472.

Susanna Meade © Susanna Meade

Introduction

The aetiopathogenesis of CD is multifactorial but includes the interaction between the microbiome and the host’s immune response. Up to 80% of patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD) require surgery during their lifetime and many factors are associated with postoperative recurrence (POR). Differential abundance of bacterial species is seen in patients with IBD compared with healthy individuals and several studies have suggested an association between microbiota composition and CD recurrence [1–3]. Altered mucosal gene expression and abundance of specific microbiota are associated with, and specific to, ileal CD [4].

Johan Burisch © ECCO

Dear Y-ECCO Friends,

I hope you are all doing well and have enjoyed your summer break – even if for most of us this probably wasn’t the vacation we had hoped for. I got to explore new areas of my own country, Denmark, which was surprisingly pleasant despite the Danish weather not giving us too much sun and warmth.

Ann Driessen © ECCO

Pamela Baldin © ECCO

The animal model is a useful tool to unravel different pathogenetic mechanisms, to detect biomarkers for monitoring and to test the efficacy and safety of drugs in the preclinical phase. In Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) research, the mouse is the most widely used animal model. Animal models are classified into four categories, namely chemical models, cell transfer models, genetically engineered models, and congenic models. Based on the mechanism of the animal model, different aspects of the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation in IBD are examined, such as epithelial integrity and wound healing, and innate and adaptive immunity [1].