ECCO-AOCC Visiting Travel Grant Report: Gabriele Dragoni
Gabriele Dragoni, ECCO-AOCC Visiting Grant Awardee, Y-ECCO Member
 Gabriele Dragoni © ECCO |
After repeated postponements due to travel restrictions to Japan, I was able to carry out enteroscopy training at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) Hospital between September and October 2022.
I am very grateful to the entire staff, led by Prof. Ryuichi Okamoto, for what proved to be an incredible experience from both a professional and a personal point of view. Before my visit, I had very little experience of the procedure. Thanks to the supervision of two sensational sensei, Prof. Kazuo Ohtsuka and Prof. Kento Takenaka, I was able to learn to perform enteroscopy more quickly and with improved outcomes. During my stay, I was positively surprised by the broad use of single-balloon (and spiral) enteroscopy in Crohn’s Disease patients referred to this tertiary centre, and I will certainly import this approach to my daily clinical practice.
The Travel Grant also provided the opportunity to create an interesting new network between Italy and Japan with regard to basic and clinical research projects that we may be able to share in the near future. Finally, my visit to TMDU would never have been possible without the precious help of my dear friend, Dr. Kohei Suzuki, to whom I owe this fantastic internship.
Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU)
© Gabriele Dragoni