DEEP REMISSION AT 1 YEAR PREVENTS PROGRESSION OF EARLY CROHN’S DISEASE

Ungaro RC, Yzet C, Bossuyt P, et al.

Gastroenterology 2020;159:139–47.

Omer Serhan Omer © Omer Serhan Omer

Introduction

Despite recent advances in medical therapy, patients with Crohn’s Disease may still suffer disease progression requiring surgery and hospitalisation. It is increasingly recognised that early effective therapy is associated with improved patient outcomes and there is growing emphasis on early intervention, treat to target and tight control (TC) approaches [1]. The Selecting Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (STRIDE) programme highlighted the importance of targetting deep remission, defined as resolution of symptoms and objective resolution of inflammation on endoscopy [2]. The Effect of Tight Control Management on CD (CALM) study recently demonstrated that a TC approach in which therapy is escalated based on objective markers of inflammation [faecal calprotectin and C-reactive protein (CRP)], in addition to symptoms, is an effective strategy to achieve endoscopic and deep remission [3]. 

Charlotte Hedin © ECCO

Dr. Rupa Banerjee is a senior consultant gastroenterologist in the Department of Gastroenterology and Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) Centre at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Hyderabad, India. She is also Director of IBD Research with the Asian Healthcare Foundation, Hyderabad. 

Dr. Rupa established the first dedicated IBD centre of excellence in India in 2004. She has designed and maintains a 6500-patient database and biorepository for the centre detailing the demographics, type and course of disease and response to treatment in the Indian subpopulation.

Her primary focus has been optimal and affordable multidisciplinary care of IBD. The outpatient clinics run from early morning to late evening, and many of the patients are from middle- or low-income strata. The centre has adopted a large cluster of villages for screening for IBD, including blood and endoscopic evaluations free of cost to enable early diagnosis and with house-to-house surveys on the incidence and prevalence of IBD in the region.

Dr. Rupa is actively involved in research on IBD in the Asian region, focussing on the epidemiology, microbiota and genetic profile of this population for the purposes of optimisation and individualisation of the management of IBD. 

Dr. Rupa has initiated the IBD-ENC (IBD – Emerging Nations Consortium), comprising more than 20 countries in South Asia, Middle East and Africa, to promote collaborative work on IBD in these parts of the world. She has been the key person in the design of the interactive web platform for the IBD-ENC (www.ibdenc.org), which presents IBD news and the latest publications, discusses challenging cases and offers members the unique opportunity to create their own patient IBD registry.

Dr. Rupa has received support from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, USA for the Rural programme for early diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease.

The call for research proposals returns with opportunities for Y-ECCO Members to propose and perform a brief, focused research project with ClinCom/Y-ECCO guidance and ECCO support.

Based on the successes of the surveys jointly conducted by the Young ECCO Committee (Y-ECCO) and the Clinical Research Committee of ECCO (ClinCom) at the ECCO Congresses in the past, we are asking Y-ECCO Members to propose a new survey study.

Ignacio Catalán-Serra © Ignacio Catalán-Serra

In this ECCO News issue, please join us for an in-depth conversation with Professor Laurence J. Egan, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, where he explains what the challenges and opportunities of leading the preeminent IBD journal are.

We talk about the future of research in IBD, career tips for young GIs and the importance of having a background as a clinician / basic researcher. Prof. Egan tells us about his experience as an intern at Mayo Clinic and the University of San Diego as researcher and how this shaped his career.

In addition, we discuss work-life balance, leadership, how to be a good mentor and how to build a positive mindset for success.

Ana Isabel Vieira and Isadora Rosa © GEDII (Grupo de Estudos em Doença Inflamatória Intestinal/Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group)

Portugal

Name of group: GEDII (Grupo de Estudos em Doença Inflamatória Intestinal/Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group).

Number of active members: 275  

Number of meetings per year: One annual main meeting plus one or two thematic meetings/postgraduate courses.

Name of president and secretary: Luís Correia (President), Paula Ministro (Secretary)

National Representatives: Ana Isabel Vieira and Isadora Rosa

Joined ECCO in: 2003

Incidence of IBD in the country: 12 per 100,000 inhabitants

Belgium

Name of group: BIRD (Belgian Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Research and Development Group)

Number of active members: 

BIRD has 121 members across 60 centres.

BINASTORIA (Belgian IBD Nurses and Study Coordinators Association) has 90 members.

Number of meetings per year:

BIRD organises two symposia per year with scientific lectures from national and international speakers. During these symposia, there are interactive workshops on different clinical topics. Additionally, BIRD hosts three extra meetings per year focused on both ongoing scientific projects and potential future studies initiated or promoted by BIRD. At these meetings, time is also reserved for clinical in-depth discussions.

Finally, EduCom (Educational Committee) and SciCom (Scientific Committee) also have regular meetings.

Name of president and secretary: Filip Baert  (President), Peter Bossuyt (Secretary)

National Representatives: Pieter Dewint and Triana Lobaton

Joined ECCO in: 2001

Denmark

N-ECCO National Representative:
Anne Hindhede
Job Title: 
IBD Nurse

What influenced your decision to apply for the role of N-ECCO National Representative for your country?

I was working in IBD and I thought that it was important to improve the level of information and good clinical practice of my Danish colleagues. Also, Else Mikkelsen and Palle Bager asked me to join them.

What IBD nursing initiatives, N-ECCO network opportunities or developments in IBD care are happening in your country?

Else and I translated the N-ECCO Consensus Statements into Danish, which will help many nurses who do not read or speak English. I am Chair of the National Association for Gastroenterology Nurses; we have a yearly two-day meeting and one full day is dedicated to IBD. Unfortunately our meeting in 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19.

We hereby cordially invite you to consider applying for the 4 open positions on the UR-CARE Steering Committee (= the official IBDIM Advisory Board). The office period lasts for 2 “elect Member years” and 4 official years, starting with the calendar year 2022.

This call is open for applications by individual experts, who are supported by one of the ECCO Committees. The applicant serves as an individual expert and not in direct representation of the committee.

The application deadline is September 13, 2021.