Miriam Ganon © ECCO

The N-ECCO School ran for the first time in 2010. Its aim is to deliver knowledge on basic aspects of IBD in a clear and precise manner in order to enable nurses and those with an interest in the subject to provide better support to IBD patients throughout Europe and beyond. In addition, the N-ECCO School has come to serve as a great networking opportunity for both nurses and dietitians, allowing them to share experiences and plans for furtherance of their careers and demonstrating the importance of the MDT approach to IBD care.

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.

The 3^rd ECCO Postgraduate Course in IBD, entitled "It's getting more complicated!", was successfully held on-site during the 18^th ECCO Congress in Copenhagen in March 2023. The course was split into two sessions, with the first session focusing on common complications in IBD practice, which were presented by renowned speakers who are key opinion leaders in the field. The second session was an interactive discussion with expert panelists, who discussed two vignettes that looked at practical assessment and decision making in the context of complicated Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

Mariangela Allocca  © ECCO

Finally, after a hiatus of two years owing to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the 10^th ECCO Ultrasound Workshop – Advanced in collaboration with ESGAR & IBUS took place physically at ECCO’23 in Copenhagen.

Ultrasound and MRI Portion

Mariangela Allocca © ECCO

Uri Kopylov © ECCO

The 4^th ECCO Basic Imaging Workshop in collaboration with ESGAR & IBUS opened with two introductory lectures on what to look for in intestinal ultrasound (IUS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), given by Christian Maaser (Germany) and Pasquale Paolantonio (Italy), respectively. These lectures introduced the hands-on part of the workshop. Delegates (n=60 in the morning and 60 in the afternoon session) were subdivided into small groups at 12 different stations, where, with the support of expert tutors – one radiologist and one gastroenterologist – they interactively discussed MRI exams and performed sonographic evaluations, employing hands-on IUS simulators on different IBD cases.

A total of 74 epidemiological abstracts and 18 digital oral presentations were presented at ECCO'23 in Copenhagen. Five abstracts of particular interest are discussed below.

A novel population-based UK study by Cooney and colleagues (OP 28) examined the association of IBD and various mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety and self-harm in children and adolescents. A large primary care database was used to identify cases. Each case was propensity matched with four controls. Relative risk of all outcomes up to 10 years in the IBD cohort versus controls was estimated using adjusted Cox proportional hazards models controlling for age, sex, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and other conditions. A total of 3898 young patients with incident IBD were matched to 15,571 controls. IBD patients were significantly more likely to develop PTSD [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 2.47, 95% CI 1.23–4.94], eating disorders (aHR 1.85, 95% CI 1.05–3.26), self-harm (aHR 1.49, 95% CI 1.00–2.21), sleep disturbance (aHR 1.40, 95% CI 1.15–1.71), depression (aHR 1.34, 95% CI 1.16–1.56) and anxiety disorder (aHR 1.25, 95% CI 1.06–1.48). These findings highlight the need to screen for these conditions in young patients.

A total of 74 epidemiological abstracts and 18 digital oral presentations were presented at ECCO'23 in Copenhagen. Five abstracts of particular interest are discussed below.

A novel population-based UK study by Cooney and colleagues (OP 28) examined the association of IBD and various mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety and self-harm in children and adolescents. A large primary care database was used to identify cases. Each case was propensity matched with four controls. Relative risk of all outcomes up to 10 years in the IBD cohort versus controls was estimated using adjusted Cox proportional hazards models controlling for age, sex, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and other conditions. A total of 3898 young patients with incident IBD were matched to 15,571 controls. IBD patients were significantly more likely to develop PTSD [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 2.47, 95% CI 1.23–4.94], eating disorders (aHR 1.85, 95% CI 1.05–3.26), self-harm (aHR 1.49, 95% CI 1.00–2.21), sleep disturbance (aHR 1.40, 95% CI 1.15–1.71), depression (aHR 1.34, 95% CI 1.16–1.56) and anxiety disorder (aHR 1.25, 95% CI 1.06–1.48). These findings highlight the need to screen for these conditions in young patients.

Peter Bossuyt © ECCO

Designing, organising and performing clinical trials in IBD is a challenge. Drug development trials often follow the well-known pathways, with established endpoints and a more or less standardised study design. Things become more complicated when the clinical researcher departs from these trusted routes.  In this context, ClinCom (the Clinical Research Committee of ECCO) organised two courses during the last ECCO Congress in Copenhagen.

Identifying biomarkers prior to IBD diagnosis from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (PURE-IBD)

Neeraj Narula © Neeraj Narula

Background & aim of research

The primary objective of this study is to identify novel serum biomarkers prior to IBD onset that may mediate IBD risk in PURE.

Deciphering of composition and characteristics of intra- and peritumoral immune cells in human IBD-associated dysplasia and cancer using novel spatial profiling techniques

Sofía Frigerio © Sofía Frigerio

Background & aim of research

Chronic colonic inflammation in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease increases the risk of colitis-associated cancer (CAC). Although mouse studies have been instrumental in understanding CAC development, the immune cell composition and the role of these immune cells in human CAC are largely unknown.

In this study, we aim to decipher the composition and characteristics of immune cells in close proximity to dysplastic pre-cancerous lesions and cancers in IBD patients, and to decipher possible interactions between epithelial cells and the underlying immune cell populations in these regions, using novel spatial profiling techniques.