Michel Adamina © ECCO

The ECCO Topical Review on Predictive Models on IBD Disease Course and Treatment Response was launched in late December 2023 and a virtual kick-off meeting took place in early 2024. At the heart of this Topical Review lies the lack of a trusted model to predict clinical course in IBD patients. Indeed, the wide treatment armentarium available today, with many new drugs and therapeutic classes entering clinical practice, makes decision-making increasingly complex. While the role of medications and surgical options is addressed in the ECCO Guidelines on Therapeutics in Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, prediction of the optimal use and sequence of treatment options remains elusive. Although several biomarkers with the potential to foresee disease course and treatment response have been identified, none has been established in clinical practice. Hence, clinical decision-making relies on dynamic clinical assessment, together with endoscopic evaluation and C-reactive protein and faecal calprotectin measurements. 

Emma Halmos © ECCO

Hannah Gordon © ECCO

Richard Hansen © ECCO

Diet in Inflammatory Bowel Disease has become a hot topic in recent years, pushed forward by advances in our understanding of the microbiome and the promise of nutrition as therapy, particularly in Crohn’s Disease. One of the most important questions in clinic (and yet the hardest to answer) remains “What can I eat?” or variations of the same. The reason this question is so difficult to answer is the enormous complexity in how diet overlays IBD and also the lack of high-quality scientific studies addressing this specific problem.

Hannah Gordon © ECCO

Michel Adamina © ECCO

The ECCO Guidelines for the management of Crohn’s Disease are among the most influential guidelines informing and guiding patient care worldwide. They are updated every 4 years and their latest iteration is about to be published following a plenary presentation at the recent ECCO Congress in Stockholm.

Torsten Kucharzik © ECCO

GuiCom has developed important and world-wide recognised guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of IBD. In order to create standardised guidelines of the highest quality, regular rotation and recruitment of highly experienced candidates is crucial. It is my great pleasure to introduce Johan Burisch, who will become a new GuiCom Member at the beginning of 2024. Johan was selected from a large group of excellent applicants for this position.

Hannah Gordon © ECCO

The second ECCO Guideline on Malignancy in IBD was published in JCC late last year, supported by working group leads Livia Biancone, Gionata Fiorino, Kostas Katsanos and Uri Kopylov. The ethos of this guideline was to couple evidence-based medicine with provision of practical advice, with a view to enhancing patient care worldwide. We worked alongside the ECCO Guidelines Team to undertake systematic reviews for each statement, selecting topics that are frequently relevant to patients with IBD as well as those which generate debate in the MDT.

Hannah Gordon © ECCO

The second ECCO Guideline on Malignancy in IBD was published in JCC late last year, supported by working group leads Livia Biancone, Gionata Fiorino, Kostas Katsanos and Uri Kopylov. The ethos of this guideline was to couple evidence-based medicine with provision of practical advice, with a view to enhancing patient care worldwide. We worked alongside the ECCO Guidelines Team to undertake systematic reviews for each statement, selecting topics that are frequently relevant to patients with IBD as well as those which generate debate in the MDT.

Torsten Kucharzik  © ECCO

Up to 50% of patients with IBD suffer from extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs), which may impact every body system. EIMs are a source of considerable morbidity, and even mortality in the case of primary sclerosing cholangitis or venous thromboembolic events. Broadly, EIMs can be categorised as those resulting from inflammatory pathology at distant sites, the consequences of IBD and treatment, or wider associations. The underlying pathophysiology of extraintestinal inflammation is not fully understood. The systemic consequences of IBD lead to broader associations, including venous thromboembolic events and anaemia. Whether these are strictly EIMs is debated, but they result in great health burdens for our patients. 

Tim Raine  © ECCO

In stepping down as the Chair of GuiCom, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome and introduce our newest member of the committee, Henit Yanai. Henit is the director of the IBD centre at the Rabin Medicine Centre in Petach Tikva, Israel and is also a faculty member at the Department of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, Tel Aviv University. But in addition to her long and distinguished list of accomplishments, I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know Henit through ECCO as a friend. Most recently, Henit was the Chair of the ECCO Educational Committee, which she led through the challenges and disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also previously served as the National Representative to ECCO for Israel. She has organised the ECCO Advanced Course, where generations of the brightest and best of new IBD talent have benefited from her dynamic leadership and teaching.

Shaji Sebastian © ECCO

Antonino Spinelli © ECCO

It is well known that the outcomes of surgery, and especially of IBD surgery, are not merely dependent on the operative procedure but are influenced by a number of factors before, during and after surgery. The multidisciplinary team involved in the care of IBD patients has the opportunity to optimise patient care and status prior to surgery to ensure optimal outcomes and reduce the risk of complications.

The ECCO Guidelines Committee (GuiCom) is welcoming two new committee members. Both are already well known in the ECCO Family. Michel Adamina was the former chair of S-ECCO and Javier Gisbert was ClinCom member in the past.