Lihi Godny  © ECCO

As a part of the 17th ECCO Congress, the 7th D-ECCO (Dietitians of ECCO) Workshop was conducted virtually and included three sessions: (1) Science, moving from a causality in IBD; (2) Practicalities and pitfalls of dietary therapy in IBD; (3) MDT: More than just the MD? Case presentations and panel discussion.

Christianne Buskens © ECCO

In contrast to what we had hoped, the 11^th S-ECCO Masterclass was again a virtual event due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, as everyone has slowly got used to online conferences, it almost felt intimate to meet like this once more.

Gert De Hertogh © ECCO

Contrary to everyone’s ardent expectations and hopes, this year’s ECCO Congress was once again held virtually. While the experiences from 2021 had taught the H-ECCO Committee how to prepare for this and what to expect, we were so happy to be supported again by an excellent ECCO Office team.

Gianluca Pellino © Gianluca Pellino

For another year, unexpectedly, the Y-ECCO Basic Science Workshop had to be an online-only event, as the uncertainties related to the status of the pandemic caused the ECCO Congress 2022 to be changed into a virtual event. However, the workshop participants showed clearly that this did not affect their enthusiasm.

Diet is a significant factor in the development of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and management of the condition. The Crohn’s Disease Exclusion Diet (CDED) has been shown to be effective in achieving remission, but could it be used more widely?

Increased fibre intake is a key element of CDED, but does it always have a beneficial impact? Recent studies have investigated how CDED impacts the microbiota and whether food additives could contribute to the development of IBD.

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This interactive event brought together leading experts to explore the value of holistic, multidisciplinary care for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and discuss the use of the preferential Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitor Jyseleca^®▼ (filgotinib) for moderate to severe Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Built to be audience led, attendees voted for the data and perspectives they most wanted to hear.

This exciting session showcases:

• Nine expert faculty
• Two real-world case examples
• Audience-guided content
• Practice-focussed discussion

Presented by:
Axel Dignass, MD, PhD – Frankfurt, Germany
Iris Dotan, MD – Petah Tikva, Israel
James Lindsay, PhD, BM BCh, FRCP – London, UK

Conventional therapies remain the most common first-line treatments for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC) in the EU, including aminosalicylates (5-ASAs), corticosteroids, and immunosuppresants.¹ However, clinical remission is not always achieved with conventional therapies in certain patient populations.² According to one retrospective study of patient-reported outcomes of 256 patients, more than half of patients did not achieve control of clinical measures, such as rectal bleeding or normal stool frequency, with the use of conventional therapies.²

Edouard Louis © Edouard Louis

The SPARE clinical trial

A treat-to-target strategy and tight disease control may improve outcome in Crohn’s Disease (CD). However, this approach may necessitate long-term use of biological agents and immunosuppression. Combination therapy with anti-TNF and antimetabolite agents is now well established in this context. These drugs may be associated with long-term risks and elevated costs. It is important to establish whether treatment de-escalation, once deep remission has been achieved, is feasible and whether this strategy may improve safety profile and costs without jeopardising disease control.

Dan Turner © Dan Turner

Academia can generate high-quality paediatric data during off-label use of drugs: the example of the prospective multicentre VEDOKIDS study

Remarkably, of the numerous biologics approved in adults with IBD, only infliximab and adalimumab have been approved in children. The long delay between approval of new drugs in adults versus children leads to their extensive off-label use, in the absence of appropriate dosing and safety data. Prospective paediatric data regarding vedolizumab are limited to a small phase 2 study (n=88; HUBBLE trial) focusing on pharmacokinetics. A paediatric phase 3 trial is underway but its completion is long overdue, also since vedolizumab is easily accessible in most countries without the constraints of study protocols. With that challenge in mind, once vedolizumab received approval in adults we initiated a prospective cohort study to explore the effectiveness, dosing and safety of vedolizumab in children. The VEDOKIDS study was sponsored by ECCO, The Paediatric Porto group of ESPGHAN and Takeda. Explicit demographic, clinical and safety data were prospectively recorded, and serum was collected for drug levels and stool for faecal calprotectin.

A total of 72 abstracts focusing on IBD epidemiology were accepted for presentation at the 17^th Congress of ECCO. Among the best abstracts, seven were presented in digital oral presentation (DOP) sessions. The remaining 65 abstracts were presented as posters. Below, I summarise the most interesting studies, covering various fields in the epidemiology of IBD.