Report on the 1^st ECCO-ESGAR Basic Imaging Workshop – Endoscopy Portion

Marietta Iacucci  © ECCO

Giovanni Maconi  © ECCO

Participating speakers and chairs: Raf Bisschops (Leuven, Belgium), Paulo Kotze (Curitiba, Brazil), Federica Furfaro (Milan, Italy), James East (Oxford, United Kingdom), Matt Rutter (North Tees, United Kingdom), Marietta Iacucci  (Birmingham, United Kingdom), Taku Kobayashi  (Tokyo, Japan), Filip Baert  (Roselare, Belgium), Krisztina Gecse (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Henit Yanai (Petah Tikva, Israel) and James Lindsay (London, United Kingdom)

Giovanni Maconi  © ECCO

Christian Maaser  © ECCO

Participating speakers and chairs: Antonio López-Sanromán (Madrid, Spain), Giovanni Maconi (Milan, Italy), Jordi Rimola (Barcelona, Spain), Torsten Kucharzik (Lüneburg, Germany), Stephan Vavricka (Zurich, Switzerland), Christian Maaser (Lüneburg, Germany), Rune Wilkens (Copenhagen, Denmark).

Pascal Juillerat  © ECCO

Henit Yanai  © ECCO

The 17th Intensive Advanced IBD Course took place before the ECCO Congress as the highlight of the educational programme, which runs in conjunction with the Congress.

This well-known course, which has been held regularly almost since the inception of ECCO, took place once again at the 14th Congress of ECCO, attracting a full attendance from Europe and beyond. Overall, 87 doctors from 41 countries participated and were treated to a comprehensive update on IBD. 

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.