Marieke Pierik © ECCO

The mission of the Epidemiological Committee of ECCO is optimisation of epidemiological research methods in Europe. During the ECCO Congress in Copenhagen, EpiCom said goodbye to Laurent Beaugerie and Nynne Nyboe-Andersen. We greatly thanked them for all their contributions to EpiCom and welcomed two new members from two different countries: the Netherlands and France.  

John Mansfield © ECCO

The ECCO Clinical Research Committee (ClinCom) organises The School for Clinical Trialists as a half-day workshop at the ECCO Congress. This year the topics covered were: The Evolution of Trial Design and How to Optimise Recruitment to Clinical Trials. 

Krisztina Gecse © ECCO

It was our pleasure to welcome three new members, Laurent Beaugerie, Peter Bossuyt and Shaji Sebastian, onto the Clinical Research Committee of ECCO at the ECCO’19 Copenhagen Congress.

Sebastian Zeissig © ECCO

Mechanisms and therapeutic modulation of mucosal healing in IBD 

We saw one of the best-ever attended SciCom Workshops this year, with exciting talks and highly interactive discussions around the topic of mucosal healing in IBD. In two sessions, the mechanisms of intestinal regeneration and its disruption in IBD and novel approaches to the clinical assessment and therapeutic modulation of mucosal healing were discussed.

Janneke van der Woude © ECCO

One of the main goals of ECCO is to promote IBD-related basic and clinical research as well as to foster interaction and productive collaboration among European research groups working in the IBD field.

To achieve this goal, ECCO continues to award Grants, Fellowships and Travel Awards, and the number of awardees has now increased to an amazing total of more than 25.  

CALM Trial

Sasha Fehily  © ECCO

Introduction

There has been a recent shift in Crohn’s Disease (CD) management away from the conventional focus on short-term clinical outcomes and towards the maintenance of long-term remission.  In 2015 the International Organisation for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases released a consensus statement recommending a treat-to-target approach [1]. The STRIDE initiative recommended pursuing treatment escalation in order to achieve the treatment targets of clinical remission and mucosal healing, with adjunctive use of normal C-reactive protein (CRP) and faecal calprotectin (FC) levels. However, the authors noted that prospective studies would be needed to confirm that achievement of these targets would alter the natural history of disease and improve patients’ quality of life.

Dominik Bettenworth  © ECCO

Dear Y-ECCO Friends,

A warm welcome to the Y-ECCO Literature Review section, where you will find a summary and discussion of cutting-edge clinical trials as well as basic science studies in the field of IBD. 

If you are a Y-ECCO Member and you are looking for an opportunity to get actively involved in ECCO and gain some visibility, contribute your article to the Y-ECCO Literature Review corner, together with a short self-description and your picture.

Charlotte Hedin © ECCO

Florian Rieder is currently an Associate Staff physician in the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition as well as an Investigator in the Department of Inflammation and Immunity at the Cleveland Clinic in the USA. His area of interest is pathogenesis of intestinal fibrosis and trial endpoint development for testing anti-fibrotics in stricturing IBD patients. He received his medical degree from the LMU Munich and has worked in Germany, Switzerland and South Africa as well as the USA. 

Nuha Yassin © ECCO

Dear Y-ECCO Friends,

I hope that this Members’ Address finds you all well and that you’re enjoying the beautiful autumn colours. Alas, this will be the last time that I address you as Y-ECCO Chair, as I will be stepping down from this position at the next ECCO Congress (2019, Copenhagen). It is with the greatest pleasure that I will then hand over the position of Chair to my colleague, Dominik Bettenworth (Münster, Germany), who has been an executive Y-ECCO Committee Member for the last 3 years. My colleague John Nik Ding will also be completing his 3-year Committee Membership and accompanying me down the path of the autumn leaves to regular ECCO Membership, thus making way for two new Y-ECCO Committee Members.

Gert de Hertogh © ECCO

Histopathologists have traditionally fulfilled three functions in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) care. First, they play a role in the initial diagnosis, together with gastroenterologists, endoscopists and radiologists. Second, they establish a differential diagnosis at clinical flares of the disease, resolving the question of whether there is reactivation of the IBD, a superinfection or an unrelated pathology. Third, they are involved in the screening of patients for premalignant lesions and cancer.