Committee News

Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is a prescribed liquid diet providing 100% of energy intake while excluding all other foods and drinks. EEN is established as an effective therapy for Crohn's Disease (CD) that induces remission in up to 80% of patients [1, 2].

The N-ECCO Travel Award offers IBD Nurses an opportunity to visit other IBD Centres, to observe and learn from IBD nursing services. Sophie Craddock was awarded at ECCO’24 and travelled to the Meyer Children’s Hospital, in Florence Italy.

The D-ECCO Travel Award offers IBD Dietitians an opportunity to visit other IBD Centres, to learn about diet and nutrition in IBD. Guia Becherucci was awarded at ECCO’24 and travelled to the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium.

We take great pleasure in announcing that, following a lapse of one year, the ECCO Educational Committee (EduCom) will once again be holding a series of ECCO Educational Workshops.

Dear ECCO Members, I'm excited to share some great news about our e-Learning platform. As we settle into the cozy winter season, I encourage you to explore the latest additions to the ECCO e-Learning platform.

The incidence of all-age IBD is increasing worldwide, with studies in paediatric IBD (PIBD) showing a continued rise in the last few decades [1].

The new REACH strategy was launched at ECCO’24 in Stockholm by ECCO President Britta Siegmund. The acronym defines the goals for ECCO Activities over the next five years.

Diet is now widely recognised to be a significant factor in the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The optimal role of diet in managing IBD remains an area of ongoing investigation. Diet has thus emerged as a ‘hot topic’ within the field of IBD, and it will take centre stage at the 13th SciCom Workshop.

My son loves the thrilling evolution of Pokémon creatures into their more advanced form. The suspense surrounding the ECCO Young Researcher Award mirrors this Pokémon transformation, as emerging researchers in our community are recognised for their own distinguished professional growth.

ECCO is proud of its continuing commitment to support innovative IBD research through its Fellowships, Grants and Travel Awards, including our flagship Pioneer Awards. Our grant programme now extends beyond the borders of Europe with the emergence of our new Global Grant supporting IBD research for low and lower-middle income countries.

IBD manifests with numerous faces. It became clear some time ago that only by joining forces across multiple countries would we perhaps be able to identify and study rare manifestations of IBD and its complications. This was the reason why the CONFER taskforce (COllaborative Network For Exceptionally Rare case reports) was initiated under the auspices of the ClinCom committee.

The incidence and prevalence of IBD varies throughout the world, with the highest incidence seen in industrialised regions of North America and Europe. Within Europe an East–West gradient has been demonstrated, with Western centres showing almost twice the incidence observed in Eastern centres. The general trend in migration is from lower and middle income countries to higher income countries in Western Europe and North America.

This summer saw the arrival of an additional novel way to participate in ECCO Education, the “Fast Facts in IBD 2024” Online Course. This live interactive online course took place on June 12, 2024 from 17:00 to 19:00 CEST. The course content was specially designed by EduCom for all gastroenterologists treating patients with IBD in their practice and was delivered in a format suited to virtual learning. 98 participants registered for this event (which was free of charge to all current ECCO Members).

The course is designed to bridge the gaps often found in IBD education during gastroenterology fellowships. It offers advanced fellows a thorough and multidisciplinary exploration of IBD, helping them to deepen their expertise. Additionally, it serves as a vital platform for young clinicians from around the world to exchange knowledge, compare medical practices and build professional networks that can lead to future collaborations. Participation is by invitation, with nominations made by ECCO National Representatives.

At the 2025 ECCO Congress, the educational programme will again include two workshops dedicated to the imaging of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). These workshops, organised in collaboration with the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) and the International Bowel Ultrasound (IBUS) group, aim to educate medical professionals in imaging techniques and their use in the accurate diagnosis and treatment monitoring of IBD patients.

We are pleased to invite you to ECCO 2025, the 20th Congress of ECCO, which will be held in Berlin. As you know, in 2024 the REACH strategy was successfully introduced with the objective of focusing on a single letter each year. In 2025, the focus will be on the letter ‘A’, which corresponds to the objective of Attaining Sustainable IBD Care.

Recent interest has focused on the role of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in IBD. UPFs are foods whose constituent ingredients are of exclusive industrial availability. Across Europe, 30%–60% of energy intake in the diet is from UPFs. Higher intakes of UPFs (especially through consumption of soft drinks, processed meat, salty snacks and refined sweetened foods) are associated with a greater risk of developing IBD, although a meta-analysis demonstrated an increased risk for Crohn’s Disease but not Ulcerative Colitis.

Are we measuring postoperative outcomes that reflect the success of surgical intervention? Are those outcomes sufficiently sensitive to measure the success of surgical intervention? Complication rate, quality of life and disease relapse are frequently used outcome measures but they have drawbacks that must be taken into consideration. Combining these outcomes with objective measurements will provide the best account of the success of a surgical intervention. Why is this important?

The treatment of children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) presents unique challenges, largely due to the complex nature of the disease, the limitations of existing therapies in children and the common off-label use of "newer" agents. Paediatric IBD requires careful management to control inflammation, promote growth and maintain a good quality of life. The treatment armamentarium for IBD in adults has expanded rapidly in the past several years, with the approval of new biologic and small-molecule agents for moderate-to-severe Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD) [1–3].

The treatment of children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) presents unique challenges, largely due to the complex nature of the disease, the limitations of existing therapies in children and the common off-label use of "newer" agents. Paediatric IBD requires careful management to control inflammation, promote growth and maintain a good quality of life. The treatment armamentarium for IBD in adults has expanded rapidly in the past several years, with the approval of new biologic and small-molecule agents for moderate-to-severe Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD) [1–3].