Francesca Rosini © ECCO

Crohn’s Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) are considered multisystemic diseases. They affect the gastrointestinal tract but can also involve other systems and organs. Almost 50% of patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs) experience at least one extraintestinal manifestation (EIM). The principal organs and structures affected by EIMs are, amongst others, joints and bones, eyes, liver and the hepatobiliary system and skin [1].

Christianne Buskens © ECCO

Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) have an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), principally resulting from the pro-neoplastic effects of chronic intestinal inflammation [1]. Epidemiological studies, however, have suggested that the incidence of CRC has decreased over time [2]. This is partly because the estimated incidence in older studies was based on data from referral centres, which likely included a different patient population with more severe and complicated disease. The declining incidence has also been attributed to successful CRC surveillance programmes and in addition has been hypothesised to be a consequence of improved control of mucosal inflammation [3]. The expanding armamentarium of medical options in IBD, such as anti-TNF and anti-adhesion biologic therapies, has substantially improved our ability to control severe inflammation, theoretically decreasing the risk of CRC.

Paulo Gustavo Kotze © ECCO

The Surgeons of ECCO (S-ECCO) once more organised an international workshop outside of Europe. These international workshops constitute a tradition in Latin America, with previous meetings having been held in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia since 2013. This year, the meeting was held in Curitiba, the capital of the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil. This meeting was the result of a cooperation between ECCO and GEDIIB, the Brazilian Study Group of IBD.

Catherine Wall © ECCO

Definition of collaboration (noun): 1. the action of working with someone to produce something or 2. traitorous cooperation with an enemy!⁶.

Collaborative projects, such as topical reviews, are excellent opportunities to increase communication between ECCO Members and encourage clinicians and researchers from across disclipines to work together to achieve a common goal. Furthermore, collaborative working, in clinical practice and research, allows us to appreciate and utilise the specialised perspectives of our peers. Clinical collaboration (a multidisclipinary team) provides a structured setting where cross-discipline discussion of complex clinical cases can occur. A multidisclipinary Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) model of care is recommended [1] and can be effective [2, 3]; however, the structure of the team will likely vary by site depending on the aim and expertise of each IBD service [2–4].

Rikke Edelbo © Rikke Edelbo

I would like to thank the N-ECCO Committee for awarding me the N-ECCO Travel Award, which was a great financial support and helped me for my studies in Stockholm.

My focus was primarily use of the telephone in patient contacts, patient education, management of newly diagnosed IBD patients and independent nursing activities.

Ana Ibarra  © ECCO

Once again, N-ECCO is offering an outstanding range of clinical and educational opportunities for nurses attending the ECCO’20 Vienna Congress.

The programmes for each activity continue to be developed on the basis of the evaluation forms from the previous year in order to meet your needs. Thank you so much for providing your feedback, which helps us to improve all the N-ECCO Activities.

Torsten Kucharzik  © ECCO

The ECCO guidelines for the management of CD and UC are of particular interest for gastroenterologists and are amongst the highest cited articles in JCC. Updates on the CD and UC guidelines are provided every three years.

The current CD guideline update has been coordinated by Joana Torres, Gionata Fiorino, Oded Zmora and Michel Adamina and was divided into the following four chapters which were distributed among different working groups:

James Lindsay © ECCO

The 64^th ECCO Educational Workshop took place at the Hotel Pullman Aerocity on August 10, 2019, the day before a National IBD study day. The ECCO Faculty comprised Willem Bemelman and myself; however, we were fortunate also to be joined by Simon Travis, who was part of the faculty for the following day.

The local organiser was Vineet Ahuja, who was joined by 16 local faculty who moderated the sessions and acted as an expert panel to facilitate discussion as well as to present some of the cases. The workshop was a resounding success, with 250 participants, including a mixture of physicians, surgeons and trainees.

Pierre Ellul © ECCO

The 62^nd ECCO Educational Workshop was organised on June 15, 2019 in Larnaca, Cyprus.

Delegates from Cyprus attended this interactive and productive workshop. It was a memorable educational experience and provided plenty of opportunities both for networking and for further clinical case discussions over coffee and lunch breaks. In the background, the serene Mediterranean Sea further stimulated healthy interactions.

Marieke Pierik © ECCO

The World Health Organisation defined health in 1948 as a status of complete physical, psychological and social well-being. Complete well-being is, however, difficult to obtain and even harder to maintain, bearing in mind that over 50% of adults suffer from a chronic disease, people are living longer than ever and continuous environmental influences are resulting in physical or mental symptoms. Therefore, health was recently redefined as a dynamic status of subjective physical, psychological and social well-being. Health care is the maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, injury or other physical or mental impairments in people. Patient-reported outcomes are outcomes directly reported by patients without prior interpretation by health care professionals. Compared with clinical outcomes (e.g. corticosteroid use, hospitalisation, surgery), they provide a more holistic interpretation of the effect of interventions or a condition on people by also taking into account the patient perspective and psychological and social aspects.