The 13^th Congress of ECCO in Vienna is coming closer and so is the late registration deadline. Benefit from the late registration fee by registering up until January 31, 2018 (after this date the onsite registration fees will apply).

6,676 delegates attended the 13^th Congress of ECCO in Vienna

The 13th Congress of ECCO – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 2018, which was held on February 14-17, 2018 in Vienna, Austria, attracted a total number of 6,676 delegates from 86 different countries. Since the inaugural ECCO Congress in 2006 in Amsterdam, at which there were 350 delegates, participant numbers have steadily increased, as shown in the graph below:

ECCO Congress participation 2006-2018 © ECCO

Another record number of abstracts has been submitted for the 13^th Congress of ECCO. Out of 1,366 submitted scientific abstracts, 1,012 abstracts have been accepted.

Of these abstracts, 38 have been selected as Oral Presentations during the Scientific Programme and another 80 were selected as Digital Oral Presentations. Each of these presentations was reviewed by ECCO Committee Members in order to select the winners of the Top 10 DOPs, IIS Abstract Awards, and the Y-ECCO Abstract Awards.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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)

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.

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.