Arie Levine © ECCO

This ECCO News Issue is the perfect opportunity for me to express awe and gratitude: awe for the dedicated dietitians of D-ECCO, who have accomplished so much, and gratitude to the Governing Board of ECCO, which detected this emerging need in IBD and supported its development within ECCO, allowing me to be part of the process.

Kay Greveson © ECCO

The cultural city of Vienna welcomed the participants of the 12^th N-ECCO Network Meeting this year. 

N-ECCO Chair Palle Bager (Denmark) opened the Network Meeting by welcoming 275 nurses and dietitians from across the world who share the goal of developing care for people with IBD globally. The first session focused on the role of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease nurse specialist. Isobel Mason (UK) discussed the value of the IBD nurse and how to promote the role across Europe, including how to audit your service and provide a detailed job plan. She also presented a new healthcare professional website developed by Crohn’s and Colitis UK, which has numerous resources to support the IBD nurse. 

Susanna Jäghult © ECCO

This year 92 nurses with a special interest in research participated in the 5^th N-ECCO Research Forum in Vienna. The participants were a fine mix of experienced nurse researchers and nurses new to research. The meeting itself offered a combination of plenary and interactive sessions and workshops.

The Forum was opened by Susanna Jäghult (Sweden), who co-chaired with Palle Bager (Denmark). The first session addressed practical issues in research.

Usha Chauhan © ECCO

The 9^th N-ECCO School in Vienna was well attended, attracting 62 participants, including 11 dietitians, from 24 countries. This year the learning objectives were published online, next to the programme. The School covered a range of IBD topics for both nurses and dietitians who work with IBD patients. The aim of the School is to enhance basic knowledge in a clear and precise manner in order to enable nurses and dietitians new to IBD, or those with an interest in the subject, to provide better support to IBD patients throughout Europe and beyond. In addition, the N-ECCO School has come to serve as a great networking opportunity for both nurses and dietitians, enabling them to share experiences and plans for furthering their careers and demonstrating the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to IBD care.

Giovanni Maconi © ECCO

Participating speakers and tutors: Anil Kumar Asthana (Australia), Arun Gupta (United Kingdom), Christian Maaser (Germany), Emma Calabrese (Italy), Francesca Maccioni (Italy) Jordi Rimola (Spain), Jaap Stoker (The Netherlands), Kerry Novak (Canada), Michael Torkzad (United Kingdom), Pietro Paolantonio (Italy), Rune Wilkens (Denmark), Torsten Kucharzik (Germany), Stephan Vavricka (Switzerland), Andrea Laghi (Italy) and Giovanni Maconi (Italy)

Giovanni Maconi © ECCO

Participating speakers and chairs: Simon Travis (United Kingdom), Raf Bisschops (Belgium), Raya Atreya (Germany), Peter Irving (United Kingdom), James Lindsay (United Kingdom), Matthieu Allez (France), Massimo Fantini (Italy) and Peter Lakatos (Hungary)

The ECCO Endoscopy Workshop reached its 3^rd edition in 2018 and has become a mainstay of the educational activities of ECCO. The workshop was organised by the Educational Committee (EduCom) and was designed to meet the needs of IBD specialists with some experience in endoscopy. 

Pascal Juillerat © ECCO

The 16^th Intensive Advanced IBD Course took place before the ECCO meeting as the highlight of the educational program which runs in conjunction with the conference.

This well-known course, which has been an a staple of the ECCO Congress almost since the beginning of ECCO, took place once again with a full attendance from Europe and abroad. Overall, 82 doctors attended the course from 37 countries and were treated to a comprehensive update on IBD.

Naila Arebi © ECCO

An introduction to pharmaco-epidemiology: How to interpret real world data for clinical practice 

The Epidemiological Committee (EpiCom) organised their 4^th workshop at the ECCO’18 Congress in Vienna.  Delegates were welcomed by Ebbe Langholz, who introduced the sessions with a short video on the UR-CARE database to illustrate the importance of databases and their potential across Europe. 

John Mansfield © ECCO

The 6^th ClinCom Workshop focussed on two current themes in IBD research: Evolving endpoints in clinical trials and comparative effectiveness research (CER).

Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet (Nancy, France) described the drivers that have led to the move from Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Mayo scores to patient-reported outcomes (PROs) that just record clinical symptoms. The ultimate therapeutic goal is not only to reduce symptoms but also to return the patient to a normal life without disability. For Ulcerative Colitis (UC) the PRO uses rectal bleeding and stool frequency scores from the Mayo score, while for Crohn’s Disease (CD) abdominal pain and stool frequency scores are used. Many clinical trials also aim to show resolution of mucosal inflammation so endoscopic scores are frequently being used as co-primary endpoints with symptom scores. Some problems with PROs remain to be settled, especially the cut-off values for active disease, response and remission, and also the variability of patients’ assessment of loose stools and rectal bleeding.

Shomron Ben-Horin © ECCO

Michael Scharl © ECCO

Fat in IBD – Much more than an innocent bystander 

Within the framework of the 6^th SciCom Workshop, the role of fat and lipids in IBD pathogenesis was highlighted. Six highly interesting talks shed light on the fact that fat is much more than an innocent bystander in IBD.