Rotem Sigall-Boneh © ECCO

In recent years, there has been increasing evidence that diet has an important role in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and their management, from the pathogenesis of disease through to treatment and supportive therapy. Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is a well-established dietary therapy that leads to induction of remission and also is associated with mucosal healing in patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD), especially in children. However, adherence to this therapy is low and it is difficult to maintain EEN for a long period. The mechanism by which EEN works is still elusive but several possibilities have been suggested. Accordingly, many groups have sought different dietary strategies to treat patients with CD or UC with several goals: Induction of remission, maintenance of remission and management of gastrointestinal symptoms.

Kay Greveson © ECCO

The first update of the N-ECCO Consensus Statements on the European nursing roles in caring for patients with Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis was completed in 2018, led by one of the previous N-ECCO Chairs, Karen Kemp. 

The Consensus document focusses on the fundamental IBD nursing role and the role of the advanced Inflammatory Bowel Disease nurse, looking at factors that are more complex and need advanced IBD knowledge.

April 28, 2018

The primary goal of ECCO Educational Workshops is to harmonise IBD practices within ECCO Member Countries by presenting the practical use of the ECCO Guidelines on Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Additionally, these workshops provide continuous medical education with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of care for patients with IBD. ECCO Educational Workshops are aimed at individuals who are interested in IBD and provide an ideal opportunity to network whilst receiving an update on the latest ECCO Guidelines from top gastroenterologists in Europe.

Peter Irving © ECCO

Dear ECCO Friends,

The purpose of e-CCO is to improve knowledge, to enhance the educational experience and to equalise access to advanced learning opportunities in IBD for our members and throughout the world. I am pleased to be able to highlight, therefore, how the e-Learning Taskforce continues to work hard to keep the e-CCO Learning site up to date with the aim of achieving these goals.

Naila Arebi © ECCO

Collaborations are the cornerstone of research studies – from inception of the idea to execution of the project, culminating in the final research goal of generating and sharing new knowledge. Information technology has transformed the way we collaborate, opening up new avenues for collaboration through enhanced remote communication between researchers as well as easier collation and sharing of research data across centres.

The PANTS study

Nicholas Kennedy © ECCO

Use of the anti-TNF alpha monoclonal antibodies infliximab and adalimumab has transformed the management of patients with refractory Crohn’s Disease. However, clinicians and patients are all too aware that anti-TNF treatment failure is common: 10%–40% of patients fail to respond to induction therapy (referred to as primary non-response: PNR), up to 40% of patients suffer secondary loss of response in the first year of therapy and approximately 10% suffer an adverse drug reaction that curtails treatment.

In faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for Ulcerative Colitis, Fusobacterium is associated with lack of remission, while metabolic shifts to starch degradation and short chain fatty acid production are associated with remission (FOCUS study)

Sudarshan Paramsothy © ECCO

The randomised controlled FOCUS study [1], along with other trials [2–4], suggests that FMT is effective in the treatment of patients with active Ulcerative Colitis (UC). However, the underlying microbial basis and predictors of therapeutic outcome in UC are largely unknown. We therefore performed in-depth microbial analyses on the samples collected during the FOCUS study to help identify bacterial taxonomic and functional changes associated with FMT in UC, particularly those predictive of therapeutic success or failure.

Janneke van der Woude © ECCO

During the ECCO’18 Vienna Congress the Scientific Committee cordially welcomed Michael Scharl and Sebastian Zeissig as new members.

Pieter Hindryckx © ECCO

Willem Bemelman

Position: Secretary 2018–2020

Nationality: Dutch

Born: December 17, 1958

Past ECCO Positions: 
     • Co-founder of S-ECCO
     • S-ECCO Chair
     • Chair, Surgical ECCO Guidelines on Crohn’s Disease

Isabelle Cleynen © ECCO

With the Y-ECCO Basic Science Workshop, Y-ECCO aims to give basic science, and young clinicians doing basic science or full-time researchers, a more visible platform within ECCO and the ECCO Congress. We also want to promote scientific exchange and networking among (young) basic scientists. Each edition of the workshop features two top-notch speakers and experts in their field who give state of the art overviews on the session topics and are then invited to join the discussions following oral abstract presentations by Y-ECCO Members. The two sessions of this year’s workshop focussed on “In vivo perils in IBD” and “Ex vivo promises in IBD”.