Volume 20, Issue 3

Continuing a well-established tradition, the ECCO 2026 Congress Educational Programme will once again offer two highly sought-after workshops focusing on imaging for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). These workshops, developed in collaboration with the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) and the International Bowel Ultrasound (IBUS) group, aim to educate healthcare professionals on imaging methods and their application in the accurate diagnosis and monitoring of disease in patients with IBD, in both adult and paediatric settings.

A new ECCO Consensus led by Alaa El-Hussuna highlights challenges and opportunities for improving Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, jjaf125, https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjaf125. With diverse international authorship and ECCO’s support, the project lays the foundation for reducing global inequities in patient care.

Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to invite you to ECCO 2026, the 21st Congress of ECCO, which will be held in Stockholm Messe, Sweden on February 18–21. The ECCO REACH strategy, introduced in 2024, is a five-year plan designed to improve IBD care, with ‘REACH’ being the acronym for five key goals: Rapid diagnosis and treatment, Equitable access to care, Attainment of sustainable IBD care, discovery of Causes of IBD and Holistic IBD care.

Sarcopenia is a complex, multifactorial condition characterised by the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, independent of body mass index (BMI) [1]. Unlike protein–energy malnutrition (PEM), sarcopenia encompasses a broader pathophysiological process affected not only by inadequate nutrition but also by chronic inflammation, disease-related metabolic alterations, ageing and physical inactivity [2, 3]. The recognition and management of sarcopenia are gaining importance in the field of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) due to its considerable impact on clinical outcomes.

The D-ECCO Travel Award offers IBD Dietitians an opportunity to visit other IBD Centres, to learn about diet and nutrition in IBD. Verena Mëllo was awarded at ECCO’25 and travelled to the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

Restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch–anal anastomosis (IPAA) remains the operation that most clearly embodies the surgical promise offered to people with Ulcerative Colitis (UC): remove the diseased colon and rectum, preserve continence and avoid a permanent stoma. The article that we produced as the S-ECCO Board and that will be published in JCC Plus is a narrative review that steps back from technique-by-technique debates and asks a broader question: