29April2021

ECCO Imaging Workshops 2021 - Endoscopy and Ultrasound/MRI

Marietta Iacucci and Christian Maaser, EduCom Members

Marietta Iacucci
© ECCO


Christian Maaser

© ECCO

Our journey over the past year has been a remarkable one, and all of us have faced challenging times. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s ECCO Imaging Courses, including the Basic Imaging and Advanced Ultrasound Workshops, have had to move online as fully virtual meetings.

We have an outstanding faculty for the 3rd ECCO Basic Imaging Workshop in collaboration with ESGAR, delivered in collaboration with ESGAR, who have been carefully chosen to include the best in their fields (endoscopy, ultrasound and MRI). They have put a lot of effort into ensuring the best presentation quality and as much interactive involvement as possible, despite the virtual online platform. Didactic lectures and high-quality interactive video sessions will be used to simulate real-life clinical cases in virtual mode.

This workshop is a multifaceted, multiplatform gastrointestinal diagnostic and therapeutic imaging and endoscopy course that will help attendees to write good quality reports, make a precise diagnosis and assessment, and deliver better therapeutic management using the latest technologies.  

The endoscopy part of 3rd ECCO Basic Imaging Workshop in collaboration with ESGAR will enable participants to increase their competence and knowledge with regard to the endoscopic diagnosis and management of IBD patients in order to improve quality of care and patient outcomes. Participants will be provided with cutting-edge information and skills on key quality performance indicators in IBD and how to write a “good quality” endoscopic report in daily practice, using validated endoscopic scoring systems and classifications. Instruction will be given on how to describe endoscopic findings in IBD accurately and in a common language, taking full account of the evolving terminology of advanced endoscopy. In addition, guidance will be provided on the performance of surveillance colonoscopy, selection of the endoscopic modality, characterisation of colonic lesions and endoscopic treatment of these lesions.

All endoscopic videos have been annotated, with accurate description of all the endoscopic features. In addition to facilitating lesion identification and colon-sparing endoscopic resection, the videos will offer an introduction to the application of different endoscopic optical platforms (iSCAN OE, NBI, BLI), with their distinctive characterisation of IBD inflammation and lesions.

We have made this part of the workshop even more interesting and exciting by introducing future advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and addressing AI’s emerging role in IBD endoscopy.

For the ultrasound and MRI parts of the 3rd ECCO Basic Imaging Workshop in collaboration with ESGAR, hands-on use of workstations, as in previous years, will not be possible. However, there will be various virtual breakout rooms in which participants will meet in small groups to interactively discuss ultrasound and MRI cases with internationally well-known ultrasound experts and ESGAR radiologist experts. Learning objectives are to understand both the potential and the limitations of the various imaging methods in order to optimise the treatment of IBD patients. We are very sure that we will be able to excite you!

This Basic Imaging Workshop is designed for gastroenterologists, endoscopists, surgeons, paediatricians, pathologists and other interdisciplinary medical experts interested in diagnostic and therapeutic imaging and endoscopy of IBD.

The 8th ECCO Ultrasound Workshop – Advanced, held in collaboration with ESGAR, will again be a mixture of up-to-date lectures on what is new in intestinal ultrasound in Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Guidance will be provided on new ultrasound techniques such as elastography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound, with tips and tricks on differential diagnosis. Each lecture will be followed by interactive video case presentations led by international ultrasound experts that are designed to give greater depth to the contents of the lectures. In addition, for all those participating in the workshop as the third and final part of the IBUS training curriculum, the workshop will end with an online test prior to receipt of the final certificate.

We are sure you will enjoy these interactive educational diagnostic courses, and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Posted in ECCO News, Committee News, EduCom, ECCO'21, Volume 16, Issue 2