Letter from the ECCO President
Britta Siegmund, ECCO President
 Britta Siegmund © ECCO |
Dear ECCO Friends,
It is autumn already, many us have attended the UEG Week in Copenhagen and we are already preparing for the next ECCO Congress 2024 in Stockholm!
The theme of the Stockholm Congress is “Crossing Borders in IBD”, which underlines the global community that ECCO embraces, working together to improve patient care and quality of life worldwide. In view of the last few weeks, we would like to emphasise that ECCO stands for peaceful coexistence and sympathy for all the innocent people who are suffering. We as ECCO demand the immediate release of all hostages. We sincerely hope that the situation will calm down soon and that we will be able to see each other in Stockholm!
The meeting of the National Representatives, including physicians, nurses and patient representatives, was an excellent forum to share ideas, needs and develop next steps on how we can work together to improve global care for IBD, thank you again to all of you for contributing and sharing your ideas, which we will work together to incorporate into our future plans.
In this issue of ECCO News we have reports from Research Grants that highlight the quality of the research we support. In addition, Gabriele Dragoni shares his experience of visiting Tokyo Medical and Dental University as part of the ECCO-AOCC grant, where he gained experience in small bowel endoscopy and established an Italian-Japanese Network. Anyone interested should apply for the ECCO-AOCC grant!
On a more practical note, Tanja Kühbacher from ClinCom provides a concise description of CTIS, the new EMA Clinical Trial Information System. While clinical trials are key to improving patient care, disease prediction is equally important. Iago Rodríguez-Lago summarises ongoing activities in this area. From my point of view, this is one of the most exciting areas in IBD, as it may also help us to decipher the true nature and cause of the disease.
Looking ahead to the Stockholm Congress, Mariangela Alloca and Uri Kopylov from EduCom highlight the two imaging workshops that will take place in close collaboration with ESGAR and the IBUS group. In parallel, Natália Queiroz spotlights the 22nd IBD Intensive Course for trainees, a real model of success! Equally important are the various activities of N-ECCO in Stockholm to ensure a growing network, educational and research activities! Wladzia Czuber-Dochan and Marie Andersson have prepared all the details for you!
This issue also presents a number of recent highlights including the recently published ECCO Malignancy Guideline, coordinated by Tim Raine and Hannah Gordon, which provides guidance not only on the risk of malignancy in IBD, but also on the cancer risk associated with IBD therapies and the management of IBD in patients with recent and active cancer. In addition, Emma Halmos introduces disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) in patients with IBD, and Alaa El-Hussuna emphasises the need for a specialist IBD surgeon and the emergence of this specialty. Firas Rinawi provides a brief summary of PSC from a paediatric perspective. He also reports on the 71st ECCO Education Workshop held in Zagreb, Croatia in June, which focussed on paediatric IBD and was attended by colleagues from Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Italy. Last but not least, Pamela Baldin highlighted the histopathological features or Very-Early-Onset IBD, emphasising the role of the pathologist in identifying key pathological features needed to provide best care.
Mark Samaan as Chair of Y-ECCO is pointing towards the key dates and activities for all Y-ECCO members, do not miss them! And of course, thanks to Y-ECCO members for providing three literature reviews for this issue!
Tim Raine has been involved with ECCO for quite some time, having chaired Y-ECCO and GuiCom, and is currently a member of SciCom. He is a true Clinician Scientist by training, read the interview with Tim find out more about him!
This almost sums up the activities of the last few months, but I would like to highlight the wonderful Y-ECCO Mentorship Forum in Vienna in June. It was truly interactive and inspiring, thanks to Y-ECCO for organising this, I am already looking forward to 2025!
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to ECCO, ECCO is driven by the global community, which includes all of you! Stay safe and do not forget to join us for the 19th Congress of ECCO in February 21-24, 2024, in Stockholm!
Britta